On The Money — Presented by NRHC — Senate nears debt ceiling ceasefire

Happy Monday and welcome to On The Money, your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line. Subscribe here: digital-staging.thehill.com/newsletter-signup.

Today’s Big Deal: A temporary reprieve from the battle over the full faith and credit of the United States. We’ll also look at more feuding among Democratic senators and an encouraging sign for the economy.

But first, see the new insane thing children are now doing because of social media.

For The Hill, I’m Sylvan Lane. Write me at slane@digital-staging.thehill.com or @SylvanLane. You can reach my colleagues on the Finance team Naomi Jagoda at njagoda@digital-staging.thehill.com or @NJagoda and Aris Folley at afolley@digital-staging.thehill.com or @ArisFolley.

Let’s get to it.

Senate poised to stave off debt crisis 

The Senate appeared poised to stave off a debt ceiling crisis of its own making on Wednesday after Democrats said they would accept a surprise offer from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to raise the debt limit for two months.

• McConnell made the offer shortly before the Senate was prepared to hold another vote on extending the nation’s borrowing limit just more than a week before a possible debt default. Republicans had been set to reject the measure.
• The vote was quickly canceled after Democrats emerged from a meeting saying they could agree to the McConnell offer.

The background: The game of debt ceiling chicken between McConnell and Democrats was beginning to fray nerves in financial worlds given the Oct. 18 deadline for action set by the Treasury Department.

The White House and Democrats had sought to put more pressure on McConnell, with President Biden for a second time in three days going to the cameras to urge the GOP to agree to raise the debt ceiling.

The terms: The deal McConnell offered is unlikely to lead to any GOP votes for raising the debt ceiling, but it will also stop Republicans from blocking a suspension and allow Democrats “to use normal procedures to pass an emergency debt limit extension at a fixed dollar amount to cover current spending levels to December,” per a statement from the Senate GOP leader.

The Hill’s Alexander Bolton has more here.

Read more on the fight over the debt limit: 

• Biden blasts Republicans for ‘disgraceful’ debt ceiling blockade
• Manchin signals he won’t support filibuster carveout for debt hike
• White House cool to McConnell debt ceiling offer: ‘We don’t need to kick the can‘
• Trump accuses McConnell of ‘folding’ on debt ceiling

A MESSAGE FROM NRHC

We Believe in Rental Housing

Single-family rental home companies are helping residents experiencing economic hardship and ensuring a ready supply of quality, affordable, well-located rental housing.

LEADING THE DAY

Sanders to Manchin, Sinema: ‘Tell us what you want’ in spending fight

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday aired his frustration with moderate Democrats, arguing they should be more specific about what they want in a fight over a sweeping social spending plan. 

• Sanders convened a press conference Wednesday to fire back at Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) after the centrist Democrat told reporters earlier in the day that $1.5 trillion was his top line on the spending fight and warned against creating an “entitlement” society.  
• “The time is long overdue for him to tell us with specificity — not generalities; we’re beyond generalities … what he wants and what he does not want, and explain that to the people of West Virginia,” Sanders told reporters.  
• Sanders also made a similar demand of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), when a reporter asked about the moderate Democrat. 

Sanders noted that he had seen reports that Sinema was opposed to certain tax increases, but hadn’t heard specifics from her. Jordain Carney takes us there.

A MESSAGE FROM NRHC

We Believe in Rental Housing

Single-family rental home companies are helping residents experiencing economic hardship and ensuring a ready supply of quality, affordable, well-located rental housing.

SCORELESS GAME

CBO ‘unclear’ when it will have cost estimate of House reconciliation bill

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said Wednesday that it is “unclear” when it will complete a cost estimate of the entirety of the Democratic-backed social spending package approved by House committees.

“The legislation being considered by the House is complex, and provisions in some committees’ recommendations interact with those of other committees,” CBO Director Phillip Swagel said in a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). “Moreover, the agency has had to devote substantial resources to providing technical assistance as committees continue to modify their proposals.

• CBO said that the bill is complicated because it would create some new programs and substantially increase funding in other areas. 
• The scorekeeper also noted that provisions advanced by some House committees are related to provisions from other committees, and it can’t complete the estimates for those proposals until after it finishes analyzing the interactions.

Naomi breaks it down here.

PAYROLL WITH THE PUNCHES

Companies add 568,000 jobs in September: ADP

Non-farm private sector businesses added 568,000 jobs in September, according to a monthly report released Wednesday by payroll processing firm ADP.

ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson said the labor market recovery is continuing to make progress despite having a slowdown in the second quarter.

Good to Know

Kaiser Permanente has put more than 2,200 workers on unpaid leave for not abiding by its coronavirus vaccine mandate.

Here’s what else have our eye on:

• General Motors (GM) and General Electric (GE) are partnering on improving supplies of rare earth materials vital to manufacturing electric vehicles. 
• Democrats are clashing over whether to include in their sweeping spending plan a decades-old amendment that blocks Medicaid and other federal health programs from being used to cover abortions.

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and check out The Hill’s Finance page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.