Polls who is to blame for debt ceiling crisis

Mindful of those risks, McConnell has said that while he does believe the debt ceiling should be raised, the responsibility for doing so lies wholly with Schumer and the Democrats. Schumer has accused McConnell of political "sophistry" and warned that Republicans could become the "party of default" if worse comes to worse.

An unsettled stock market saw its worst week since the financial crisis and the cost of debt rose as investors fled the U.

Treasury bond market. The debt ceiling, originally intended to impose fiscal discipline on lawmakers, has been changed by Congress 98 times since the end of World War Two and 17 times since , according to the Congressional Research Service. Most of the increases have been free of drama. Investors around the world may sell off US assets and become less trusting of the US dollar, which has functioned as the world's reserve currency for decades.

It also suggested the cap should be replaced with an alternative financial mechanism. Last week, Mr Biden condemned what he called "hypocritical, dangerous and disgraceful" Republican opposition. Mr Biden said it amounts to "playing Russian Roulette with the economy". There are 50 Democrats in the Senate, but in order to pass a measure on the debt ceiling without changing Senate rules, they require at least 10 Republican votes.

They also note that, during Mr Biden's predecessor Donald Trump's term, they joined with Republicans to raise the debt ceiling three times. Senate Republicans have said raising the debt limit is the "sole responsibility" of Democrats because they hold power in the White House and both chambers of Congress.

They are frustrated by new spending proposals that Democrats are trying to push through without Republican support, through a procedural tool called "budget reconciliation". Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tweeted last month that his party "will not facilitate another reckless, partisan taxing and spending spree". Mr McConnell and other party leaders contend that if Democrats can use reconciliation to achieve their economic policy goals, they can also use it to take action on the debt ceiling.

Democrats have expressed concern over using reconciliation, saying it is too complex and time-consuming a route to take. After two attempts to bring up the debt ceiling measure through regular order in the Senate failed, Mr McConnell proposed an agreement last week that Democrats have now accepted. Some Republicans, including former president Donald Trump, have grumbled that this amounts to "folding to the Democrats", but the temporary measure has now passed through both chambers of Congress.

Under the agreement, Congress will still need to vote again in December to avert a default. Republicans are using the debt ceiling to send a political message. Lawmakers are now back at the brink, scrambling to pass a suspension to the debt limit — a legal cap to how much the country can borrow — even as they wrestle over an expansive infrastructure package and social spending bill.

According to estimates from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, lawmakers have until October 18 to avoid a potential default. But on Wednesday, McConnell said that Republicans would not block a short-term increase of the debt limit until December, as long as Democrats met certain conditions.

Debt has been accrued under both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, and both political parties have used looming debt crises to argue that the other side is being fiscally irresponsible. In more recent years, the GOP, in particular, has used such disagreements to extract policy concessions. It seems as though Republican leaders have now swerved for the time being, wanting to avoid economic collapse. Raising or suspending the debt limit, much like approving government appropriations, is a routine issue that Congress is tasked with.

The last time lawmakers suspended the debt limit was in , when both the House and Senate did so on a bipartisan basis. This time, however, Republicans had refused to allow even a short-term measure to move forward until this week. In the past, if a party held both the White House and Senate, data shows that its members have made up the bulk of the votes for such efforts, political scientist Sarah Binder explained in the Washington Post.

It was less common, though, for the minority party to filibuster such attempts. So far, Republicans have already filibustered, or blocked, an attempt by Democrats to approve a suspension to the debt ceiling in a short-term spending bill that would have also funded the government through mid-December.

When filibustered, legislation requires 60 votes to pass, meaning the person Democratic caucus would need to find 10 Republican lawmakers to join them. Thus far, Democrats have been reluctant to use budget reconciliation because of how long and convoluted the process could be. Defaults on National Debt. Congress is heading into the week with the deadline for debt ceiling negotiations approaching and as President Joe Biden said on Friday that the infrastructure bill remains at a stalemate.

By Claire Williams.