WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is headed toward a standoff over the national debt next year, when Republicans newly in control of the U.S. House threaten to demand concessions for raising the government’s legal borrowing limit.
Democratic leaders in Congress say they’ve run out of time to force through an increased debt ceiling this year, with most Republicans opposed. Two senators — Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia and newly independent Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona — insist that any vote should be bipartisan.
That will push the fight off until 2023, when Republicans will assume the majority in the House. From that perch, they’ve promised to win Biden’s signature on some of their priorities in exchange for a vote to increase the borrowing limit before a default on U.S. payments as soon as July.
