Buckle your seatbelts. It’s about to get (even more) interesting on Capitol Hill.
The U.S. government’s fiscal year starts October 1. Before then, lawmakers must either pass a budget or cobble together a stop-gap spending bill to prevent a breach of the debt ceiling.
It’s worth noting that more than a decade has passed since Congress followed the regular budgetary process.
The current debt limit was set on March 16 at $19.8 trillion. If nothing is done, the result would be a government shutdown, since Congress did not give the government authority to spend a penny more.
“From what I heard yesterday on Capital Hill, there’s a likely scenario circulating that Republicans in the Senate pass a debt ceiling bill potentially before they leave or right when they come back,” says Macro Policy analyst JT Taylor, on the latest word from Republican staffers.
The House will be a tougher nut to crack, Taylor says, but the lower house would likely take up the issue in September or early October.
“The House is going to be the sticking point,” Taylor says in the video above from a recent conference call with institutional investors. “A lot converging around that point so they may have to find a critical piece of legislation to attach it to.”
It’s going to be a “battle royale,” he says, and they will need Democrats to get it passed.