Democrats in Washington D.C. were forced to pass a stopgap spending bill that was not connected to legislation that would raise the debt ceiling. Republicans and Democrats quickly passed the legislation in both the Senate and the House of Representatives without any trouble to prevent a lapse in funding until the beginning December. This delays the problem for at least nine weeks but at some point both political parties will be forced to address the issue without delaying it.
The Democrats can’t afford to have a government shutdown at a time when Joe Biden’s agenda is in major danger due to a few moderate democrats failing to agree on the price tag for the reconciliation bill with other party progressives.
It became obvious late last week that Democrats were going to have to fund the government for a short amount of time without actually raising the debt ceiling at the same time. The Republican Party leadership expressed that the Democrats have already used their majorities to pass their agenda so far and that they could easily do that in relation to the debt ceiling as well. Democrats don’t want to take responsibility for raising the debt ceiling because it has traditionally harmed the majority party in recent election cycles.
Democrats are already bracing for losing their majorities in the midterm elections as recent polls suggest a red wave is possible in 2022. They desperately need to keep the government open because a lapse in funding will only cause their political perception more harm going into a midterm election year that could make Joe Biden a ‘lame-duck’ President.
This issue will need to be readdressed before December 3rd or the government will once again be at risk of shutting down. The concept of raising the debt ceiling is another portion of this entire process that will also need to be addressed or the United States could risk defaulting on its debt.