January 31, 2023 6:17pm EST
How a group of Democrats and Republicans could bypass McCarthy and lift the debt ceiling
The federal government currently has a $31.4 trillion national debt
By Chad Pergram | Fox News
What Congress tackles or fails to accomplish often boils down to "the math."
But a potential crisis over the debt ceiling later this year could really be about the math, even more than other things that are about the math on Capitol Hill.
It’s also about the process.
Congress must raise the debt ceiling by early June or the nation may default. A failure to lift the debt limit could prompt the financial markets to spiral out of control, astronomically drive up the price of lending for homes and cars and spur a global economic meltdown.
Such a scenario would make the 2008 fiscal crisis resemble a couple of bounced checks.
The debt ceiling is the amount of red ink the government is statutorily allowed to carry at any one time. The federal government is now about $31.4 trillion in the hole. Congress must pass a bill lifting or suspending the debt ceiling to avert the financial calamities mentioned above.
It sounds simple. But both the House and Senate must pass the same bill. Republicans hold a five-seat majority in the House. Democrats preside over a one-seat majority in the Senate. However, 60 votes are needed to terminate a filibuster in the Senate. A determined group of House Republicans is loath to support any measure that implicitly signals more debt. Even if this is debt the U.S. already accrued.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/users-manual-how-group-democrats-republicans-could-bypass-mccarthy-lift-debt-ceiling
