Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, talks to reporters during her weekly news conference in the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center.
The House took the first step towards preventing a default.
The Senate would be able to raise the country's borrowing limit with a simple majority vote under a bill passed by the chamber. Automatic Medicare cuts are set to take place at the end of the year, but lawmakers attached the provision to legislation to prevent them.
The measure will go to the Senate. It will need 10 Republican votes to pass.
The House and Senate can hold separate votes to raise the debt ceiling with a simple majority if the president signs the bill. GOP leaders have said that the party will not join Democrats in hiking the borrowing limit, but that they will not block their counterparts from preventing a default.
The US will hit its debt ceiling on December 15th, raising the risk of a first-ever default. The global economy and stock markets could be in danger if America fails to pay its obligations.
McConnell said he expects the debt ceiling and Medicare bill to get through the Senate.
The legislation could be voted on Thursday.
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