Lawmakers push default threat into December, as Trump calls for McConnell's ouster

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and President Biden spoke about the debt ceiling Friday, according to a Republican aide, a day after the Senate voted to raise the debt limit through early December, averting what threatened to be an economic disaster — U.S. default.

The short-term extension came after McConnell reversed course on a months long standoff with Democrats over the debt ceiling. Senate Republicans had pushed Democrats to use the budget process known as reconciliation to raise the debt limit, which would enable them to raise the debt ceiling with just a simple majority. 

Senate Democrats rejected that idea — Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said using reconciliation would be "convoluted" and "risky," and the measure could take weeks to pass. Earlier this week, as the country was approaching default, McConnell proposed a short-term extension of the debt limit to give Democrats until December 3 to use reconciliation to raise the debt ceiling for a longer period of time.