Biden says changing filibuster rules to raise debt ceiling is ‘a real possibility’

By Kaitlan Collins, Kate Sullivan and Maegan Vazquez, CNN

President Joe Biden on Tuesday said it was a “real possibility” that Senate Democrats would look to change the filibuster rules in order to overcome Republican opposition and raise the debt ceiling ahead of a fast-approaching deadline.

A change to the filibuster rules would allow Democrats to avoid a potentially catastrophic default less than two weeks away, but every Democratic senator would have to be on board to make the change.

Democrats have the ability to raise the debt ceiling on their own but would need to use a lengthy congressional process called reconciliation to do so. Using reconciliation to raise the debt ceiling could take two weeks — very close to the October 18 deadline laid out by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Changing the filibuster rules would allow Democrats to move much quicker while still only using Democratic votes and Vice President Kamala Harris to pass the debt ceiling hike.

Democrats have been discussing whether it is possible to change the filibuster rules, according to multiple sources at closed-door sessions. At a caucus lunch on Tuesday, Democrats rejected Republican demands to go through budget reconciliation and argued they should not heed the calls of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.