Democrats in the Senate passed the short-term debt ceiling deal tonight by a two vote margin, 50-48:
AXIOS – The Senate voted 50-48 on Thursday night, passing an agreement to raise the federal debt limit by $480 billion through Dec. 3. The bill now goes to the House.
The deal, struck early Thursday by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), would avert the threat of the U.S. defaulting on its debt as of Oct. 18. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had warned that unprecedented move could trigger a recession and have global ramifications.
In order to get to the actual vote, Republicans had to help them get past cloture since they had a deal. Here are the Republicans who got Democrats the 61 votes they needed:
Republican Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) — a mix of moderates, retirees and leadership — joined McConnell in helping reach the 60-vote threshold to invoke cloture and move the Senate toward a floor vote. Cloture passed 61-38.
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who is not running for reelection, didn’t vote.
Now the bill heads to the House where it will likely pass with flying colors. And then we’ll do all of this again in December. Yay.