No deal in sight as US debt ceiling deadline approaches
Congress has only a couple of weeks to avert another government shutdown over the federal debt ceiling and Senate leaders do not appear to be anywhere close to a deal.
The United States narrowly avoided default in October after congressional Republicans refused to vote to increase the nation’s debt borrowing limit, forcing Democrats to pass a short-term extension, setting up another showdown for early December.
Lawmakers now face a December 3 deadline to raise the debt ceiling before the US defaults on its debt.
There is no indication that lawmakers can unite behind an omnibus spending bill before that deadline, especially since Republicans have already signaled their opposition to another increase to the debt ceiling, despite the potentially severe consequences of a US default.
In a recent letter to Congress, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that the Treasury would be left with insufficient…
