(Bloomberg) — Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer ratcheted up pressure on Republicans in their feud over raising the national debt limit, announcing Thursday he will seek a vote “as early as next week” on House-passed legislation suspending the legal ceiling.

With the deadline approaching Oct. 18, the vote will be held to prevent the worst-case scenario of a default on U.S. sovereign bonds. The timeline also makes it more difficult to find a complex alternative strategy for getting around a Republican blockade to address the debt limit.

Two times, Senate Republicans prevented debt ceiling legislation from moving in the 50-50 chamber. There are 60 votes required to pass most legislation.

Schumer asked Republicans again to agree to the Democrats clearing it with only 51 votes rather than using a filibuster.

“If they want to oppose this measure and bring us closer to financial disaster, they can write their names in the history books as the senator that would let the country default for the first time ever, but Republicans need to get out of the way so Senate Democrats can address this issue quickly and without endangering the stability of our economy,” he said.

Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell said that Republicans stand united behind the demand that Democrats take control of their budget through a reconciliation process. It could take up to two weeks for this process to be completed.

Trump’s administration suspended the debt ceiling for two-years, but it was reinstated in August. Although most of the recent federal debt increase occurred during Republican control of Congress and the White House, the GOP tied the increase in the debt limit to Democratic attempts to pass a tax- and spending package totaling $3.5 trillion.

House legislation will suspend the federal debt limit until December 2022.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said earlier this week the government would exhaust the “extraordinary measures” it has been using to pay bills since August and run out of cash on Oct. 18 without congressional action.

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