This week in Washington is all about the debt ceiling
CNN
Congress avoided a government shutdown and Democrats may have been forced to punt on their infrastructure and social safety net agenda in an eventful last week on Capitol Hill.
But to some extent those agenda items pale in comparison to the magnitude of the item Congress needs to begin dealing with this week: The debt ceiling.
The bottom line is that Congress has two weeks to increase the country's borrowing limit or the repercussions for the nation's financial market, and the economy at-large, are dire. Congress is playing with fire, as most members and aides who handle this on a day-to-day basis acknowledge privately. The closer the country gets to the October 18 deadline, the less time there will be to back out of a corner and right now neither side is close to blinking.
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