Senate Votes to Approve Debt Ceiling Bill, Averting Default

The U.S. Senate voted to approve the “The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023,” averting a potential default on the national debt.

The bill reportedly passed the Senate on Thursday with a vote of 63-36.

“The Senate passed the bipartisan debt deal Thursday night, sending it to President Joe Biden’s desk days before the default deadline and capping off months of melodrama,” Politico reported.

The Senate 63-36 vote on the debt limit is actually a little surprising given the House's 314-117 blowout.

In the House, 149 Republicans voted for it, and 71 voted no.

In the Senate, only 17 voted for it, while 31 voted no.

Basically, the 2:1 margins flipped.

— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) June 2, 2023

As Breitbart News reported on Wednesday, the House overwhelmingly voted to approve the act, passing it 314 to 117 in favor. Now that both chambers have approved, it will move to President Joe Biden’s desk for his expected signature.

A recent Yahoo News/YouGov poll showed that Americans overwhelmingly favor the types of compromises proposed in the deal, such as a reduction in spending, while disfavoring a potential default on U.S. loans. When asked if they agreed on “smaller spending cuts in order to raise the debt limit, which could be approved with a combination of Democratic and Republican votes,” Americans were overwhelmingly in favor of such a deal.

Per Yahoo News:

Overall, twice as many Americans say they would favor such a compromise (43 percent) as say they would oppose it (21 percent). And while Democrats were the most positive group (by a 54 percent to 17 percent margin), both independents (41 percent to 20 percent) and Republicans (43 percent to 28 percent) also expressed more support than opposition.

The survey shows similar results to follow-up questions about how House Republicans should react if Biden “refuses to accept deeper Republican spending cuts” (which is effectively what the president did after the House GOP passed its own spending bill last month). In response, a full 56 percent of Americans say Republicans should either agree to smaller cuts that can pass with Democratic and Republican votes (36 percent) or agree to raise the debt limit without any spending cuts at all (20 percent).

Only 17 percent of Americans surveyed said that Congress should allow for a default instead of raising the debt ceiling, while only 27 percent of Republicans agreed that the U.S. should default on its loans.

Paul Roland Bois joined Breitbart News in 2021. He also directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed on Tubi, Google Play, YouTube Movies, or Vimeo on Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.