Amid the congressional disarray, a top ratings agency warned of a possible downgrade in US creditworthiness. The US must raise its $16.7 trillion debt limit by Thursday or risk default. Politicians, bankers and economists have warned of global economic consequences unless an agreement can be reached.
The Democratic-controlled Senate took control on Tuesday night; working on a bipartisan deal that aides said would extend the federal borrowing limit until 7 February and fund the government to mid-January.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid and his Republican counterpart, Mitch McConnell, were expected to brief their colleagues on Wednesday. The Senate is due to reconvene at noon (16:00 GMT).
However, even if a compromise can overcome procedural hurdles, it remains unclear whether it could muster enough votes in the Republican-led House to pass before the 17 October deadline. Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski warned her colleagues that the US was “hours away from becoming a deadbeat nation, not paying its bills to its own people and other creditors”.
The Senate‘s negotiations were initially put on hold on Tuesday to give House Republicans a chance to come up with a deal. But the lower chamber’s efforts ended in chaos after two proposals floated in the space of a few hours were torpedoed from right and left, forcing the leadership to shelve plans for a vote.
아주경제 앤드류 이 기자=
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com