Democratic congressional leaders vow to address U.S. debt limit

Congressional Democratic leaders connected Sunday vowed to tackle the nation's indebtedness ceiling successful coming weeks, saying their party's predetermination victories connection them leverage adjacent arsenic Republicans person promised a perchance explosive fight.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said they would enactment portion President Joe Biden's chap Democrats power some chambers.

"Our champion shot, I think, is ... to bash it now," Pelosi told ABC News' "This Week" program. "Winning the Senate gave america a batch of leverage for however we spell forward... successful the lame duck," she said.

Schumer said that Senate Democratic leaders would conscionable this week to sermon the legislative way forward, though helium declined to connection immoderate specifics.

"The indebtedness ceiling of course, is thing that we person to woody with. And it's thing that we volition look astatine implicit the adjacent fewer weeks," helium said.

Democrats clinched power of the Senate late connected Saturday. It is inactive not wide which enactment volition power the House.

Biden's Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, has urged lawmakers to enactment earlier the caller Congress is seated successful January, with the nation's $31.4 trillion enactment of recognition expected to beryllium exhausted sometime successful the archetypal 4th of 2023.

The indebtedness ceiling indispensable beryllium approved each clip it needs to beryllium raised successful bid to guarantee that the United States avoids a default, which would person catastrophic effects.

The mechanics is meant to control the nation's rising debt, though it has been ineffective successful caller decades.

Republicans person said the indebtedness ceiling would beryllium an "important tool" to rein successful national spending if they instrumentality power of the House.

Pelosi warned Republicans would usage the indebtedness combat to instrumentality purpose astatine 2 fashionable wellness and income security programs for older Americans, Medicare and Social Security.