Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) warned there is no margin for error for the vote on President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) debt ceiling bill.
The bill is set to be voted on in the House on Wednesday, after which it will be sent to the Senate. A growing number of conservative Republicans and progressive Democrats in both chambers of government have said they will not vote for the bill unless certain changes are made, threatening to throw a wrench in the process. Schumer warned against this prospect on Wednesday, stressing there was no time to spare to avoid default.
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"Senators should be prepared to move on this bill quickly once it is the Senate's turn to act. I cannot stress enough that we have no margin — no margin — for error," Schumer said, NBC News reported, adding that a failure to move rapidly means "the federal government will default for the first time ever."
"Any needless delay, any last-minute brinkmanship at this point would be an unacceptable risk," he continued.
.@SenSchumer: "Senators should be prepared to move on this bill quickly once it is the Senate's turn to act. I cannot stress enough that we have no margin—no margin—for error."
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) May 31, 2023
He says a failure to move rapidly means "the federal government will default for the first time ever."
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A single senator has the ability to delay the process, a prospect that Schumer worries could cost too much valuable time.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently moved the "X-date," the date the United States will default on its debts, to June 5. Her previous estimate had the date of Thursday, June 1.