Government Funding Set to Run Out Thursday

Congress has a mid-October deadline to raise the national debt limit but Democrats and Republicans are in the middle of a heated debate with no clear resolution. Democrats want Republicans to join them in a bipartisan vote to suspend the debt limit but Republicans have called for Democrats to act on their own to address the issue. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Democrats that the vote on raising the ceiling could come at any time but that vote hasn’t happened yet. During a meeting, Pelosi signaled that Democrats are going to decouple the stopgap funding bill known as a continuing resolution to fund the government from the provision to raise the debt ceiling.

That move could avoid a government shutdown but Republicans said they wouldn’t vote for the stopgap if it included the debt ceiling provision. Government funding is expected to run out at midnight tomorrow night. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also made a request yesterday to set up a vote to suspend the debt limit with a simple majority threshold but was blocked by Republicans.