(Reuters) – Democrat leaders in the US congress on Sunday vowed to tackle the national debt ceiling in the coming weeks, saying their party’s election victories would give them leverage as Republicans engaged in a potentially explosive showdown .
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said they would act as long as Democrats control both houses.
“Our best shot, I think, is … doing it now,” Nancy Pelosi told ABC News’ This Week. “The victory in the Senate gave us a lot (weight),” she added.
Chuck Schumer said Senate Democratic leaders will meet this week to discuss the legislative path forward, without further details.
“The debt ceiling, obviously, is something we have to grapple with. And it’s something we’re going to look at over the next few weeks,” he said.
Democrats retained control of the Senate late Saturday evening. It is not yet clear which party will control the House of Representatives.
Joe Biden’s Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has urged lawmakers to act before the new Congress meets in January because the country’s $31.4 trillion credit line is expected to run out in the first quarter of 2023.
The debt ceiling must be approved whenever it needs to be raised to ensure that the US avoids a default, which would have catastrophic effects.
This mechanism is supposed to control the country’s debt increase, even if it has proved ineffective in recent decades.
Republicans have said the debt ceiling would be an “important tool” to curb federal spending if they take control of the House of Representatives.
Nancy Pelosi has warned that Republicans will use the debt fight to attack two popular income and health insurance programs for older Americans, Medicare and Social Security.
(Report Susan Heavey, French version Benjamin Mallet)
