On Monday, Senate Republicans blocked legislation to raise the debt ceiling and allow the US to avoid an impending government shutdown and possible default. On Tuesday, the GOP also pooh-poohed a proposal by Democrats to allow for the debt ceiling to be raised with a simple majority vote, instead of the 60 vote supermajority ordinarily needed. The United States is hurtling toward the historically unprecedented prospect of defaulting on tens of trillions of dollars in debt as government funding is set to expire on 30 September, the end of the current fiscal year. On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary ...