Yellen: ‘Catastrophic’ default on debt could halt Social Security payments to nearly 50 million seniors
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell both confirmed on the Senate floor moments ago that the chamber plans to pass a stopgap funding bill today to avert a government shutdown and keep the government funded through early December.
Schumer said he’s “confident the House will approve this measure later this afternoon and send it to the President’s desk before funding runs out” at midnight tonight.
“Some good news — today the Senate will pass a continuing resolution that will eliminate the possibility of a government shutdown tonight,” Schumer said in floor remarks Thursday morning.
The continuing resolution, Schumer said, “will keep the government funded until December 3, provide funding.. to help process and resettle Afghan refugees and finally deliver on critical disaster aid for Americans battered by the storms and wildfires this summer.”
The New York Democrat also delayed the vote series on several amendments that will be followed by final passage of the funding bill now set to begin at 11:05 a.m. ET (instead of 10:30 a.m. ET).
“On government funding, what Republicans laid out all along was a clean continuing resolution without the poison pill of a debt limit increase. That’s exactly what we’ll pass today,” McConnell said.
Schumer also said that the Senate could take up the House-passed bill to suspend the nation’s debt limit “as early as next week.” The bill is expected to be blocked in the Senate by Republicans, who oppose helping Democrats address the debt ceiling.
Schumer announced Wednesday evening that an agreement had been reached, paving the way for a Thursday vote in the chamber on a continuing resolution, which keeps the government funded at current levels for a set time period.
“We have an agreement on the CR, the continuing resolution to prevent a government shutdown, and we should be voting on that tomorrow morning,” Schumer, a New York Democrat, said.
Congressional Democrats initially attempted to address the government funding issue alongside the debt limit, a strategy that was thwarted by Republicans in the Senate who have insisted that Democrats must act alone on the debt limit.
CNN’s Ali Zaslav and Clare Foran contributed reporting to this post.
