On Wednesday morning, Congress voted to raise the national debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion, which means it's headed to the desk of President Joe Biden for possible signing.
The move would stop the government from defaulting on its bills, which would have caused economic peril.
The House passed the legislation Wednesday morning in a 221-209 vote, and hours later, the Senate approved the measure in a 50-49 vote.
If Biden signs on the dotted line, the increase should be enough to last into 2023, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. This will allow Congress to avoid any more fights over spending until after the 2022 midterm elections.
The move from Congress was a close call as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told lawmakers she estimated the U.S. would have hit its debt ceiling by Wednesday if the measure hadn’t passed.
If Congress had failed to reach an agreement on extending the debt limit, then the U.S. would have defaulted on debts for the first time. Treasury Department officials and experts said that the country defaulting on its debts could have caused a global recession, USA Today reported.
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Congress had narrowly avoided defaulting on its bills in October when Republicans and Democrats were in gridlock over how the issue should be addressed. As a result, they had agreed to push the decision-making process to December.
With the deadline approaching, Senate and House leaders used a one-time fast-track process to get the measure passed without the GOP stopping it.
The issue has been a hot topic with Senate Republicans not wanting to help Democrats raise the debt limit, blocking any long-term increases. While on the other hand, Democrats have continued to say that the accumulated debt is a bipartisan burden asking for support from across the aisle.
With Democrats looking to pass several pieces of their legislative agenda, Republicans have criticized them for not specifying the exact dollar amount they want to raise the limit.
The legislation will now do just that, raising the debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion instead of suspending it for a length of time.
