Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) appears to be optimistic following his conversation with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell about the debt ceiling.
Schumer said Tuesday he “recently had a good conversation” with McConnell on the debt ceiling and expects to “continue those talks.”
He added, “I look forward to achieving a bipartisan solution to addressing the debt limit soon.”
Schumer says he “recently had a good conversation” with McConnell on debt limit and expects he will “continue those talks.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 30, 2021
“I look forward to achieving a bipartisan solution to addressing the debt limit soon.” Treasury has set a Dec. 15 deadline to avert default
McConnell recently received criticism from former President Donald Trump over the debt limit.
“McConnell is a fool and he damn well better stop their ‘Dream of Communism Bill’ and keep his Senators in line, or he should resign now, something he should have done a long time ago. Use the Debt Ceiling like it should have been used, you Old Broken Crow, to do so would hurt our Country far less than this horrible Bill,” Trump said in a statement.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said earlier this month she expects the country will reach its debt limit on December 15. As CNBC noted, if lawmakers are unable to strike a deal on how to address the debt ceiling, the government “would default for the first time ever.”
Yellen penned a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) explaining her estimate is partially based on the president’s enactment of the infrastructure bill.
“Yesterday, the President signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which appropriates $118 billion for the Highway Trust Fund,” she said. “These funds must be transferred into the Highway Trust Fund within one month after the enactment of the legislation, and the transfer will be completed on December 15.”
Yellen continued, “While I have a high degree of confidence that Treasury will be able to finance the U.S. government through December 15 and complete the Highway Trust Fund investment, there are scenarios in which Treasury would be left with insufficient remaining resources to continue to finance the operations of the U.S. government beyond this date.”