President Biden Signs Bill to Raise Debt Ceiling

Last week, President Biden signed a bill that will raise the debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion to $31 trillion. The action will avert possible debt default and allow the federal government to continue borrowing into early 2023, after the 2022 midterm elections.

The vote came on party-lines, with Democrats voting in favor while Republicans almost unanimously opposed the measure. The action comes after months of back-and-forth negotiating between the two parties after the two-year debt waiver expired at the end of July. The action was made possible after party leaders decided to allow a one-time, fast-track process for increasing the debt ceiling using a simple majority vote rather than the 60 votes usually needed to move the legislation through the Senate.

Regarding the action, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “The full faith and credit of the United States should never be questioned. The health of our economy should never be threatened. The financial security of our families must never be gambled,” while Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell said that this “printing, borrowing and spending addiction is directly hurting American families.”