Congressional leaders reached an elaborate deal Tuesday that will allow Democrats to lift the nation's debt limit without any votes from Republicans, likely averting another last-minute rush to avoid a federal default. The House is expected to pass legislation late Tuesday that would kick off a multi-step process.Congress approved a $480 billion increase in the nation's debt limit in October. That's enough for the Treasury to finance the government's operations through Dec. 15, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's projection. But Republicans have warned they won't vote for any future debt ceiling increase to ensure the federal government can meet its financial obligations, and instead, the politically unpopular measure would have to be passed entirely by the Democratic majority in both chambers of Congress. President Joe Biden had called on Republicans to "get out of the way" if they won't help Democrats shoulder the debt responsibility. But rather than step aside and allow for a quick vote, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has helped engineer an unusual legislative process that will play out over the next several days. Donald Trump, the former president, ridiculed McConnell for allowing any action, showing just how politically toxic the routine act of paying the nation's bills has become."I think this is in the best interest of the country," said McConnell, R-Ky. "I think it is also in the best interest of Republicans, who feel very strongly that the previous debt ceilings we agreed to when President Trump was here carried us through August. And this current debt ceiling is indeed about the future and not about the past."The agreement spelled out in a House bill filed Tuesday establishes the days-long process ahead. In short, it would tuck a provision to fast-track the debt limit process into an unrelated Medicare bill that will prevent payment cuts to doctors and other health care providers. Once the Medicare bill becomes law, it will open the process for the Senate to raise the debt ceiling through subsequent legislation with a Democrats' only majority vote.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., struck an optimistic note that the debt ceiling plan will pass."This is a very good outcome for the American people. We will avoid default, which would have been disastrous. Democrats have always said that we were willing to shoulder the load at 50 votes to get this done as long it was not a convoluted or risky process, and Leader McConnell and I have achieved that."Key to the agreement is that Democrats will have to vote on a specific amount by which the debt ceiling would be lifted. The amount has not yet been disclosed, but it is sure to be a staggering sum. Republicans want to try to blame Democrats for the nation's rising debt load and link it to Biden's $1.85 trillion social and environmental bill."To have Democrats raise the debt ceiling and be held politically accountable for racking up more debt is my goal, and this helps us accomplish that," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.The increase in the debt ceiling, however, is needed to meet financial obligations accrued by both parties under past legislation. The vast majority of it predates Biden's presidency."This is about meeting obligations that the government has already incurred, largely during the Trump Administration," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to Democratic colleagues. "Only three percent of the current debt has been accrued under President Biden."Pelosi said that addressing the debt limit will prevent a drastic increase in interest rates for car loans, student debt, mortgages and other types of borrowing for Americans.The legislation before the House on Tuesday establishes a fast-track process for the days ahead. A subsequent vote will be needed to pass the debt ceiling increase itself. Once the Senate has done so, the House will take up the bill and send it to Biden to be signed into law.At their private luncheon Thursday, Republican senators sounded off against the plan. Many of them will not support it.Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., a member of GOP leadership, said the lunch discussion went about as would be expected — though he said the plan at least allows Republicans to achieve their goal of forcing Democrats to vote on their own to raise the debt ceiling by a specific amount. The parliamentary machinations struck some House lawmakers as an "absurd" but necessary way to deal with the Senate, where the filibuster rules allow the Republican minority to block action."We're tying ourselves into parliamentary contortions to try to help the Senate deal with this straitjacket they have put themselves into," Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md said.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday he would not again help Democrats extend the government's borrowing authority, raising fresh doubts about how Congress will avert a federal default when a temporary patch expires in December.McConnell issued his warning in a letter to President Joe Biden a day after the Senate approved a $480 billion boost in the federal debt limit, enough to last about two months. In an eleventh-hour turnabout, the Kentucky Republican was among 11 GOP senators who provided decisive support Thursday for a procedural move that opened the door for subsequent Senate passage of that measure with only Democratic support.Some GOP senators openly criticized their leaders not holding out longer against Democrats' efforts to extend the debt limit, which they said would have sharpened their message that a still-developing multibillion-dollar package of Biden's top domestic priorities is wasteful and damaging to the economy.McConnell said Friday that he made his decision to refuse future help because of his opposition to the huge domestic bill and because of a "bizarre spectacle" on the Senate floor by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. After the bill passed, Schumer criticized Republicans for trying to push the country over "the cliff's edge" by opposing the debt limit extension."In light of Senator Schumer's hysterics and my grave concerns about the ways that another vast, reckless, partisan spending bill would hurt Americans and help China, I will not be a party to any future effort to mitigate the consequences of Democratic mismanagement," McConnell wrote.It remains unclear how Democrats would push new legislation further extending federal borrowing authority come December without GOP backing.One theoretical way is for them to change Senate rules and shield debt limit legislation from GOP filibusters, delays that require 60 votes to overcome in the 50-50 Senate.At least two Democratic senators, West Virginia's Joe Manchin and Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema, have said they oppose doing that, effectively thwarting that option. Republicans said one factor in providing Democrats the two-month lifeline was fear that Manchin and Sinema might decide to support ending filibusters for debt limit legislation.McConnell's letter included a string of insults aimed at Schumer, a remarkable broadside by one Senate leader against another."Last night, in a bizarre spectacle, Senator Schumer exploded in a rant that was so partisan, angry, and corrosive that even Democratic Senators were visibly embarrassed by him and for him," McConnell wrote. "This tantrum encapsulated and escalated a pattern of angry incompetence from Senator Schumer."McConnell added: "This childish behavior only further alienated the Republican members who helped facilitate this short-term patch. It has poisoned the well even further."A Schumer spokesperson declined to comment on McConnell's letter.Since summer, McConnell repeatedly said Republicans would not assist Democrats in pushing a debt ceiling extension through the Senate by helping them reach the 60 votes needed for most legislation. He cited Democrats' proposed 10-year, $3.5 trillion social, economic and tax measure, which Republicans unanimously oppose.Hours before Thursday's vote, McConnell reversed course and proposed a short-term extension into December. Without a renewal of federal borrowing powers, the Treasury Department had projected it would run out of cash to pay the government’s bills by Oct. 18.Republicans lambasting McConnell's tactic included former President Donald Trump, still influential within the GOP. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., typically a McConnell ally, slammed the move as "complete capitulation."If the government depletes its legal ability to borrow money, financial analysts have warned that it could deliver a serious blow to the U.S. and global economy and cause delays in government payments to Social Security recipients and others.McConnell has insisted that Democrats can raise the debt ceiling by themselves by employing the same special budget process they're already using for their enormous domestic spending and tax measure. Those procedures forbid filibusters from being used against certain bills.Democrats say they won't use that process, which they call too cumbersome. But it would also require them to raise the debt limit by a specific dollar amount that, they fear, Republicans will make a staple of campaign ads attacking them.Democrats accused McConnell of creating a potential financial crisis. They noted that the current federal debt of around $28 trillion is to cover spending that's already been approved, including around $7 trillion under former President Donald Trump.McConnell said it was Democrats who prompted the problem because he had warned them since summer that they would have to approve the debt limit extension on their own. Before Thursday, the House had approved debt ceiling extensions but Republicans blocked them in the Senate.After the $480 billion borrowing extension cleared the procedural hurdle thanks to GOP support Thursday, the Senate gave it final approval by 50-48 with only Democratic votes. Final congressional approval of the Senate-passed short-term debt ceiling extension is expected Tuesday by the House.After the Senate vote, Schumer lauded Democrats for overcoming "this Republican-manufactured crisis. Despite immense opposition from Leader McConnell and members of his conference, our caucus held together and we have pulled our country back from the cliff’s edge that Republicans tried to push us over."