House lawmakers will return to Washington on Tuesday to vote on a short-term extension of federal borrowing authority, interrupting a two-week recess.
“The Speaker and I have both spoken with Treasury Secretary Yellen, who said that if the House fails to act next week, the country will be unable to pay its bills,” Majority Leader Steny Hoyer wrote to lawmakers. “This cannot happen. Therefore, the House will convene on Tuesday, October 12, to pass this stopgap measure, and I expect we will complete our work that evening.”
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The Senate on Thursday approved legislation extending the debt limit until Dec. 3, providing Yellen with $480 billion in new borrowing authority.
Yellen warned this week that the United States will default on its loans and other critical payments if Congress does not approve a debt limit increase by Oct. 18.
Democrats hoped to lift the debt limit until December 2022, but Senate Republicans are unwilling to provide the GOP votes needed for the longer extension in protest of a plan by Democrats to jam through a massive social welfare spending package.
Republicans broke a weekslong impasse over the debt ceiling by offering to help Democrats pass the short-term extension.
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The GOP said they are providing Democrats with ample time to use a budgetary tactic that will allow them to pass a long-term extension without a single Republican vote.
The national debt exceeds $28 trillion, and the next long-term increase or suspension of the borrowing limit will push it over $30 trillion.
