US Senate Approves Raising of Debt Ceiling to $31 Trillion as Default Looms

US Senate has approved a measure to lift the nation's borrowing limit by $2.5 trillion, just one day before the deadline set by Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen for lawmakers to take action to prevent a default.

US Senate
Senate reaches coronavirrus stimulus deal YouTube Grab

The upper chamber on Tuesday voted 50-49 along party lines to raise the debt limit to roughly $31 trillion, after Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer struck a deal to allow Democrats to approve the measure through simple-majority votes in the evenly-split Senate

The Democrats-held House of Representative is expected to quickly clear the legislation, which will then be sent to President Joe Biden for his signature, Xinhua news agency reported.

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The measure would increase the debt limit by $2.5 trillion, which is expected to last until 2023 without the need for another vote to raise the borrowing cap, avoiding another partisan fight over the debt ceiling issue before the mid-term elections in 2022.

US Treasury Department
The Treasury Department learnt about the mistake only in the fourth round after a working group administering the payments brought up concerns about deceased people receiving payments in late March YouTube Grab

In mid-November, US Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen already urged Congress to raise the federal government's debt limit by December 15 to avoid a potential default.

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