Debt ceiling plan sparks political showdown in Washington.

Senate Democrats held a hearing to criticize House Republicans' proposal to raise the US government's borrowing limit in exchange for spending cuts, warning that it would result in devastating cuts to veterans' benefits, childcare access, and infrastructure funding. Economists testified that a federal default would bring disastrous and decades-long consequences, causing America's unemployment rate to rise and its gross domestic product (GDP) to tumble. Democrats expressed openness to amending the federal budget for the next fiscal year, but they emphasized that such a discussion must be separated from the immediate need to address the debt ceiling.