Senate Approves Debt Ceiling Bill, Heads To Biden’s Desk For Signature, Averting Default

Voting to approve the “The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023,” (HR 3746) and averting a potential default on the national debt, the U.S. Senate, following the House’s adoption of the legislation, passed the bill on Thursday. The final vote on the Senate floor was 63-36 for passage of the bill.

In a turbidly dramatic month, HR 3746 passed both houses of Congress largely without the votes of a majority of the progressive left as well as the conservative right. Essentially the moderates got the job done.

According to a Fox News report earlier this week-

“Just like the House vote, defectors from both parties were expected in the Senate. Progressive lawmakers have argued that the spending cuts in the bill go too far, while conservatives complained they did not go far enough.”

-Fox News

It’s too bad that Biden stone-walled to the last possible minute – but good that McCarthy stood his ground. Neither side got everything they had hoped for this time around, but at least the cooperative effort did demonstrate, that each sides differences could be put aside for the collaborative good of the American people. At least this is a start.

The bill now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk where he is expected to quickly sign the bill that will stave off default. According to Politico-

“The Senate passed the bipartisan debt deal Thursday night, sending it to President Joe Biden’s desk days before the default deadline and capping off months of melodrama,”

-Politico

The House had overwhelmingly voted to approve the act, on Wednesday, passing HR 3746, by 314 to 117, in favor. Both chambers in the end, approved the bill, making some spending cuts, with a modest raise in the debt ceiling and overall averting default.

When asked if they agreed on “smaller spending cuts in order to raise the debt limit, which could be approved with a combination of Democratic and Republican votes,” Americans polled were overwhelmingly in favor of such a compromise. In fact, according to a recent Yahoo News/YouGov poll Americans overwhelmingly favored the types of compromises proposed in the deal, such as a reduction in spending, while disfavoring a potential default on U.S. loans.  

According to a report by Yahoo News-

“Overall, twice as many Americans say they would favor such a compromise (43 percent) as say they would oppose it (21 percent). And while Democrats were the most positive group (by a 54 percent to 17 percent margin), both independents (41 percent to 20 percent) and Republicans (43 percent to 28 percent) also expressed more support than opposition.”

“The survey shows similar results to follow-up questions about how House Republicans should react if Biden “refuses to accept deeper Republican spending cuts” (which is effectively what the president did after the House GOP passed its own spending bill last month). In response, a full 56 percent of Americans say Republicans should either agree to smaller cuts that can pass with Democratic and Republican votes (36 percent) or agree to raise the debt limit without any spending cuts at all (20 percent).”

-Yahoo News

The reaction on social media was widely filled with plenty of vitriol as both sides, progressive leftists and hard-core conservative expressed their distain, a certain amount of economic ignorance and certainly their emotional angst at being side-stepped by moderates, who made a bipartisan effort to avoid default. These must have been the 17 percent of Americans surveyed, that said that Congress should allow for a default instead of raising the debt ceiling, or the 27 percent of Republicans who agreed that the U.S. should default on its loans. What a spectacle.

Amidst the angry comments to be widely found, were a few who made some thoughtful sense while not bashing either side. One blogger wrote-

“McCarthy came out of the debt deal as the strongest official in Washington. He controls Congress, and his plan to reduce spending, debt, and inflation has strong public approval. He can put the Biden agenda on hold by imposing the House's authority over spending. Use hearings build cases against the FBI, DOJ, and DHS, then vote to sanction them! “

FamousJamous, Breitbart Blogger

If American’s don’t like how this political event turned out, it’s citizenry has the responsibility to vote to change their representation in office. Preserving the democratic republic, established under the constitution is this nation’s only way to fight the encroaching socialism we find ourselves facing. Again, if this seemingly bipartisan effort is problematic, vote for change – 2024 lies ahead.

“Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.”

-Abraham Lincoln
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