The Senate on Thursday advanced a measure that would allow Democrats to raise the limit on the nation's borrowing with a simple majority vote.
Lawmakers are almost free to move forward on legislation that would help avert a debt default in the U.S.
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The resolution to raise the debt limit was advanced by the Senate in a vote of 64 to 36 on Thursday afternoon, setting the stage for a final vote as soon as Thursday evening.
Fourteen Republicans voted to advance the measure after Senate Majority LeaderMitch McConnell brokered a deal with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to avoid a debt default without offering any Republican votes in favor of the final.
The bill passed the House in a close vote of 222 to212, with only one Republican voting in favor.
Senate Democrats have the ability to introduce legislation that would raise the debt limit by an amount that's yet to be announced, which would prevent a default that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said could happen.
Bank of America economists said in a note to clients on Wednesday that they think the debt limit increase will be in the range of $2 trillion to $2.5 trillion.
The Senate will vote on the bill to raise the debt limit, but the House will vote on the bill early next week, according to the House Majority Leader.
Lawmakers have been bitterly divided over how to address the United States' growing debt load. The debt limit was raised by $480 billion in October, but two months later the funds are set to run out. Republicans voted to raise or suspend the debt limit three times under Donald Trump, but have since soured on additional extensions given Democrats' lofty spending ambitions. "I think this is a mistake, but we'll see what happens," said Sen. Lindsey Graham. "For the last four months, we've been telling our Republican base that Democrats should raise the debt ceiling by themselves."
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If Congress fails to raise or suspend the debt ceiling, the Treasury would be unable to provide financial assistance to the poor. It could take decades to recover from the fact that roughly 56 million Social Security recipients may not receive their payments on time or at all in the event of a default, according to White House economists.
If Congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling again, the US could run out of cash by mid-December.
If the US Defaults this month, millions of Americans could lose their benefits overnight.
The US will avoid a government shutdown after the Senate passes a funding bill.
