Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced a compromise on the Senate floor Thursday evening to vote on revisions to legislation raising the debt limit until the beginning of 2025, with the goal of passing it before markets open Friday morning.
To expedite the process, Schumer stated that the Senate would vote on 11 changes to the measure, ten supported by Republicans and one by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and that votes would be restricted to 10 minutes. Following that, the chamber would vote on the final passage.
The breakthrough came after a multi-hour standoff with defense hawks, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who demanded commitments from Schumer and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) to protect defense spending from a potential 1% cut later this year, as well as action on a defense supplemental spending bill.
Before announcing the agreement to move forward on amendments, the Democratic leader put a joint statement with McConnell into the congressional record.
The statement underlined that the spending restrictions established by the debt limit agreement struck by President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) would not preclude the Senate from passing supplemental spending legislation to increase funding for the Defense Department or respond to a national emergency.
“After we finish voting on the amendments, we are immediately considering final passage, and by passing this bill, we will avoid default,” Schumer said. “America can finally breathe a sigh of relief.”
Graham, who had earlier threatened to delay the debt-limit discussion until Tuesday if his worries about defense spending were not addressed, announced that Schumer had agreed to introduce a supplemental defense spending bill later this year.
“I’ve been informed that the majority leader will shortly come to the floor and announce his commitment and the body’s commitment to do a supplemental to make sure that the damage done by this bill is at least partially corrected,” Graham said.
Look at the tweet posted by the Offical account of The Hill. You can also find more information about Schumer’s Late Thursday Update Agreement Secured For Debt Ceiling Bill by reading the below tweet:-
Schumer announces agreement to pass debt ceiling bill late Thursday https://t.co/sfLSAmWcih pic.twitter.com/ord0pBY8V6
— The Hill (@thehill) June 2, 2023
“This bill puts our troops on the defensive. “This bill contains no funding for Ukrainian assistance,” he continued.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) told reporters after the agreement was announced that “there really is a desire by the vast majority of members of the Senate to actually take care of our country’s defensive needs.”
“The way the bill was crafted, if we weren’t able to do all appropriations bills, then non-defense discretionary [spending] came out better and defense came out worse,” he said, referring to a provision in the bill that would cut discretionary spending across the board as a penalty if Congress did not pass regular spending bills by the end of the fiscal year.
After the first amendment vote, Schumer returned to the floor to read aloud his joint statement with McConnell in order to “dispel rumors” that the debt ceiling pact would preclude more spending on defense and other issues.
“This debt ceiling deal does nothing to limit the Senate’s ability to appropriate emergency supplemental funds to ensure our military capabilities are sufficient to deter China, Russia, and other adversaries,” he said.
He went on to say that the bill would not restrict the Senate’s ability to appropriate emergency funds for disaster relief or to deal with the fentanyl issue.
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