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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he expects to pass the
increase "soon," after a "good conversation" with Senate
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
"The Senate must take action to make sure the United States does
not default on its sovereign debt for the first time in its
history," Schumer said on the Senate floor on Tuesday.
"I recently had a good conversation with the Republican leader
about this issue and expect to continue those talks... I look
forward to achieving a bipartisan solution to addressing the
debt limit soon."
McConnell also appeared to be optimistic, declaring to reporters
later in the day that the federal government would not default
on its debt. He described his talks with Schumer as "useful" and
added that he was also confident Congress would avoid a partial
government shutdown this week.
"Certainly, nobody needs to be concerned about a government
shutdown," McConnell told a news conference.
Neither said when they expected a vote on the debt limit to be
held on the Senate floor.
But Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, noted that Schumer
and McConnell discussed the debt limit and other pending issues
last week. "It is a rare moment when you say Chuck and Mitch met
and they talked about something," he said. "I hope it's
positive."
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday said
that without a prompt increase in the Treasury Department's
borrowing authority, it could run out of cash before the end of
December if it transfers, as planned, $118 billion to the
Highway Trust Fund on Dec. 15.
(Reporting by Moira Warburton, Richard Cowan and David Morgan;
Editing by Scott Malone and Andrea Ricci)
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