WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats are set to try again on Wednesday to extend the US government's borrowing authority to head off a catastrophic default, after President Joe Biden suggested they could change the chamber's rules to bypass a Republican roadblock.
Biden said on Tuesday that it was "real possibility" that Democrats might use their current razor-thin majority to drop the Senate's filibuster rule, which requires 60 of the chamber's 100 members to agree to pass most legislation. In an effort to underline the severe economic risks of a default, Biden will meet on Wednesday with a group including CEOs of major corporations including JPMorgan Chase & Co , Intel Corp and Nasdaq Inc.
Democratic Senators John Hickenlooper and Ron Wyden on Tuesday said they were open to dropping the filibuster requirement for the debt-limit vote. Manchin declined to comment when asked about it prior to Biden's remarks.