Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said it is imperative to move the debt ceiling bill as quickly as possible once it passes in the House, calling the deal a “responsible, prudent, and very necessary way forward.”
Schumer voiced his support for the deal unveiled over the weekend by President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to raise the federal debt limit through January 2025 and cap spending over the next two years. The New York Democrat urged the House to approve the bill as quickly as possible.
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“I support the bipartisan agreement that President Biden has produced with Speaker McCarthy. Avoiding a default is an absolute imperative,” he said during a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday. “Nobody is getting everything they want. There’s give on both sides. But this agreement is the responsible, prudent, and very necessary way forward.”
The agreement includes spending cuts demanded by Republicans but not the same reductions in the sweeping legislation passed by the GOP-majority House last month. In exchange for raising the debt limit for two years, a two-year budget deal would impose limits for 2025. It would also expand some work requirements for food stamp recipients and attempt to streamline an environmental law to build new energy projects.
Democrats are celebrating their wins in negotiations. The proposal did not give into Republican demands for steep cuts on domestic spending and raised the debt ceiling beyond the 2024 election.
“I commend President Biden and his team for producing a sensible compromise under the most difficult of circumstances,” Schumer said on the Senate floor on Tuesday. “It takes default off the table, sparing Americans from immense economic pain. And second, it protects key investments for growing our economy and fixing our infrastructure to make the U.S. competitive on the world stage.”
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He emphasized the deal will not touch Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid or cut the quality of care for military veterans. Schumer has said previously there may be a weekend vote to get the legislation passed in time.
The Senate majority leader also warned a default would inflict “enormous” damage on the economy, claiming it could result in a “painful recession,” lead to 8 million lost jobs, cause mortgage and interest rates to rise, and hurt workers’ retirement savings.
