An attempt to increase the debt ceiling by Dec. 15 and tie the language to an annual defense policy bill could enable Senate leadership to immediately address two items in Congress’ to-do list, but the option is facing bipartisan pushback in both upper and lower chambers, The Hill reported Sunday.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., have warned that the National Defense Authorization Act with the debt limit hike language faces the risk of being rejected in the lower chamber.
“We’ve told the Senate that. That’s the reality. Those are the numbers,” said Hoyer, who confirmed that Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have been discussing the option.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the NDAA has been delayed in the Senate by a number of proposed measures and one of those is an amendment over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline system that links Russia to Germany.
Another amendment bogging down the NDAA is the incorporation of a language from the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which would prohibit products made by Uyghur Muslims through forced labor from reaching the U.S. market.
According to congressional aides, the House and Senate Armed Services Committees started working on a compromise NDAA and that the lower chamber could vote on the measure early next week.
