U.S. President Donald Trump meets with congressional leaders: House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Vice President Mike Pence, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., September 6, 2017. For minority Democrats, whose votes are needed to pass debt ceiling increases, they could potentially use the debt limit vote later in the year as leverage to win concessions on a tax overhaul package that Trump badly wants to advance. Less than an hour before the meeting, Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan had called the Democratic proposal that Trump later embraced a “ridiculous and disgraceful” idea that would “play politics with the debt ceiling.”

Even with the three-month extension of the debt limit, a Senate Republican aide told reporters that nothing in the tentative deal would stop the Treasury Department from using its powers to extend the deadline, depending on revenue flow. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said Hurricane Irma, a massive storm threatening Florida over the next several days, in addition to Harvey, increased the pressure for Congress to move swiftly on both emergency relief and raising the debt limit.
President Donald Trump, siding with Democrats, reaches a deal with congressional leaders of both parties to extend the U.S. debt limit and fund the federal government until Dec. 15, as well as provide Harvey disaster relief.