Why the Senate isn’t jumping at the opportunity to end the debt crisis

Politics

The Senate still isn’t ready to save the day on the debt ceiling.

As the House GOP scrambles to pass its ultimately doomed bid to raise the nation’s borrowing limit, across the Capitol almost no one is working to devise legislation that can overcome a Senate filibuster, win a House majority and get President Joe Biden’s signature. And time is ticking: Financial analysts are increasingly worried that the nation could default on its debt by early June if the limit isn’t raised.

The House bill “is a start, but it’s only a start,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said in an interview. He added that he hopes negotiations will start soon but acknowledged they might not until “we finally get the x-date” — Treasury’s updated estimate of when the ceiling will be breached. “Then we probably got about six weeks to solve it.”