Pelosi Calls for Debt-Ceiling Vote During Lame-Duck Session (1)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi signaled that Democrats will seek to extend the federal debt ceiling during the lame-duck session of Congress, avoiding a potential fight with Republicans that she said could threaten the US’s credit rating.

Even with party control of the House undecided on Sunday after the Nov. 8 midterm elections, Pelosi cited Republican threats to use the debt-limit extension “to cut” Medicare and Social Security.

“We’ll see what they contend that they want to do,” Pelosi said on ABC’s “This Week.” “But our best shot, I think, is to do it now.”

A debt-limit standoff in Congress would ...