Washington —The Senate was on track to vote on the bill to suspend the debt ceiling and limit government spending late Thursday night or early Friday morning, potentially sending the bill to President Biden’s desk to avert a catastrophic default on the nation’s debt.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed earlier Thursday to keep the upper chamber in session to pass the bill “as soon as possible,” and had told members earlier this week that they should plan to stay in Washington over the weekend for a possible vote.
But it may not take that long, with senators eager to ditch Washington.
Voting on proposed amendments began around 7:30 p.m. ET. The Senate will consider 11 amendments before moving to vote on final passage of the bill.
The Senate is under pressure to approve the legislation before Monday, when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has projected the federal government will run out of cash to pay its bills.
The House passed the legislation late Wednesday in a strong bipartisan vote.
“We will keep working until the job is done,” Schumer said Thursday on the Senate floor. “Time is a luxury the Senate does not have, if we want to prevent default.”
Schumer said “any needless delay” or “last-minute holdups” would be a “dangerous risk.”
Several senators are pushing for votes to amend various portions of the 99-page bill, known as the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. The approval of any amendments would require the House to pass the new version before sending it to the president for his signature.
“Any change to this bill that forces us to send it back to the House would be entirely unacceptable. It would almost guarantee default,” Schumer said.
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia was seeking to strike a provision in the debt ceiling bill that fast-tracks construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline to carry natural gas from West Virginia to Virginia. Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was offering an amendment with more dramatic spending cuts than those in the bill.
GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah wantwd to remove a portion of the bill that allows the Office of Management and Budget to waive some restrictions on spending if doing so is needed “for the delivery of essential services.”
The White House’s legislative affairs team has been in touch with every Senate Democratic office ahead of the vote, a White House official said Thursday. Outreach to senators continued throughout the day, with senior staff calling senators individually.
Alan He, Nikole Killion, and Weijia Jiang contributed reporting.
