McConnell warns of government funding standoff over debt limit

Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, responded by calling McConnell’s threat “risky and dangerous.”

Congress has only two weeks to pass a stopgap spending bill to keep the government operating.

McConnell was responding to a reporter who asked whether Republicans would provide the 10 GOP votes needed to pass a stopgap funding measure, known as a continuing resolution, that will be needed after Sept. 30, when 2021 funding expires.

Lawmakers will try to pass a short-term bill because partisan differences have prevented the passage of fiscal 2022 funding.

But Democrats want to add on an extra provision.

Treasury officials have warned Congress they need new borrowing authority as soon as October in order to continue paying the nation’s bills.

A law suspending the borrowing limit has expired.