Debt ceiling deal to make way for December showdown: The Note
ABC News
The Senate voted to increase the debt limit by $480 billion, but the kicked-can of a deal sets up a bigger battle in early December.
The TAKE with Averi Harper
On the Senate floor Thursday morning, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell took credit for resolving a crisis that he had a hand in creating by his prior refusal to raise the debt ceiling. He announced a deal with Democrats to temporarily keep the U.S. from defaulting on its debt, which experts say would have had catastrophic effects.
"The Senate is moving toward the plan I laid out last night to spare the American people from an unprecedented crisis," McConnell said, later adding, "The majority didn’t have a plan to prevent default, so we stepped forward."
In a vote Thursday night, not a single Republican voted with Democrats to raise the debt ceiling. The final vote passed the Senate 50-48. The deal is slated to raise the debt ceiling by $480 billion, ABC News' Trish Turner reported. The sum is what the Treasury Department has said it needs to pay its bills through Dec. 3.
