Written By: Niharika Sharma

US were to default on its debt on October 18, 2021, when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen informed that the country was reaching its debt ceiling which currently stands around $28tn. Both the Republicans and Democrats were in conflict with each other as to how to resolve the issue by playing the blame game (1). As a result, on 15 October 2021, the Congress voted for short term bill to raise debt ceiling till December giving the government some room to act. At the US Senate, the constitution requires both majority and opposition parties vote to make changes to the debt ceiling. This means that even if there are 50 Democrats at the senate, yet it still requires at least 10 Republicans to vote for the measure to pass. As the US government cannot keep increasing its debt ceiling, the Republicans agreed to extend Biden’s government request for temporary increment of the debt ceiling which will be voted again on 3 December 2021(1).

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