By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters] – Democrats’ threat to abolish the U.S. Senate’s filibuster regulation coloured Wednesday’s efforts behind the scenes to avert a looming Federal Debt default. Analysts fear this would lead to a major disruption to the global financial system.

President Joe Biden, a former senator who has long defended the filibuster rule that requires 60 of the chamber’s 100 members to agree on most legislation, said late on Tuesday that Democrats would consider making an exception to the filibuster https://www.reuters.com/world/us/what-is-us-senate-filibuster-why-is-everyone-talking-about-it-2021-10-06 to hike the government’s $28.4 trillion debt ceiling and defend the economy.

Democrats called off an early Wednesday afternoon vote after the Senate’s top Republican, Mitch McConnell, floated a plan that would buy more time https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senate-democrats-plan-debt-limit-vote-after-biden-hints-filibuster-could-go-2021-10-06 to resolve the issue. The Treasury Department predicts that, without Congress’s approval to raise the debt limit the Treasury Department will not be able to pay all of its obligations until Oct. 18.

McConnell didn’t explicitly link his offer of a temporary extension to the debt limit until December 1, but he and other top Republicans voiced concerns during public comments.

McConnell warned the Senate floor hours before making his announcement about his offer that Democrats might be playing Russian Roulette with the economy in order to force their members to back off their promises and destroy the Senate.

The 50 Senate seats that Democrats control are held by Democrats. Their majority is due to Vice President Kamala Harir’s ability to end ties. However, this has given Republicans the ability to filibuster and block most of their priorities including those on voting rights and immigration reform.

Some caucus members have proposed to abolish the filibuster. This is a Senate tradition that has not been enshrined into law. However, Biden, Joe Manchin, and Kyrsten Sinema (moderate Democrats), have opposed.

On Wednesday, Manchin reiterated his opposition for ending filibuster. The Senate claims that this term is descended form a Dutch word meaning pirate.

“I have been extremely, very clear about where I stand regarding the filibuster. The West Virginia Democrat stated that nothing has changed in his position on filibuster.

The filibuster is supported by those who believe it will ensure stability in the law and prevent major aspects of American life being changed every time the Senate control shifts from one party to the other.

However, the threat of high interest rates, an increase of layoffs and sharp falls in the stock exchange if the United States goes bankrupt would have put more pressure on those who remained to end the standoffs to do so.

Senator John Thune is the No. 1 in the chamber. Reporters were told by Senator John Thune, a Republican from the chamber’s No. 2 that eliminating the filibuster was “a terrible option for this institution and for the country.”