U.S. Senate GOP Wants to Hike Debt Limit By $5 Trillion in Big Beautiful Bill

By Jennifer Shutt, States Newsroom

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (Office of Speaker Mike Johnson, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

U.S. Senate Republicans unveiled Monday that they plan to raise the country’s debt limit by $5 trillion in the “big, beautiful bill,” a full $1 trillion more than House GOP lawmakers proposed in their version.

The provision is tucked into the Senate Finance Committee’s 549-page section of the package, which also includes tax law changes and how Republicans in the upper chamber plan to rework Medicaid.

The bill is one of 10 the Senate will bundle together in the days ahead before bringing the full package to the floor for debate and amendment votes.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, hopes to approve the legislation before the Fourth of July break, but because the chamber is changing the House bill in numerous ways, it will have to go back across the Capitol.

Given the extremely narrow majorities in each chamber, GOP leaders cannot lose more than a handful of their own members and still have the measure make it to President Donald Trump for his signature.

Earlier Debt Limit Suspension Expired January 1

The debt limit change released Monday could frustrate some far-right members of the party, who believe it sends the wrong message about how the mega-bill will affect the country’s fiscal future.

Congress must raise the debt limit by a dollar amount or suspend it through a future date before the Treasury Department runs out of accounting maneuvers known as extraordinary measures.

The previous debt limit suspension, which was agreed to by both Democrats and Republicans, expired on January 1, leaving the Treasury Department to move money around to keep paying all of the country’s bills in full and on time.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote to congressional leaders in May, urging them to address the debt limit before leaving on their customary August recess.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that lawmakers have until sometime between mid-August and the end of September to address the debt limit before default would hit.

Traditionally, the White House and congressional leaders from both political parties negotiate a debt limit deal. But GOP leaders are hoping to raise the debt limit in their mega-bill since that avoids having to make any concessions to Democrats in order to avoid a default on the debt.