On Wednesday, the head of the Republicans in the Chamber of Congress, Mitch McConnell, offered a compromise in the dispute that had raged for weeks. This had caused a sigh of relief on Wall Street. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had already announced days ago that if the current ceiling of 28.4 trillion dollars (24,606 billion euros) is not raised, the US may no longer be able to meet its payment obligations from mid-October.
Republicans believe that Democrats could go through a complicated process to reach an agreement on the debt ceiling by the new December deadline. The process called reconciliation has so far been viewed by the Democrats as too bulky and risky. McConnell tried to address these concerns by promising Republicans would be willing to make concessions to expedite the process.
The Democrats are also considering overturning the Republicans’ blocking minority in the Senate. To date, according to the so-called filibuster rule, 60 of the 100 senators have to approve most of the laws in order for them to come into force. The Democrats only have 50 senators. Filibuster, however, has no legal force. The Democrats could, with their wafer-thin majority, enforce a procedural change and thus enforce an exception to the filibuster rule. Then a simple majority could be enough to change the debt ceiling. Because in a 50:50 stalemate, Vice President Kamala Harris of the Democrats decides on the vote of the Senate.
