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SCHUMER: "We have reached agreement to extend the debt ceiling through early December..."

Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer and the chamber's Republican leader Mitch McConnell agreed on Thursday to raise the debt ceiling but only until early December, buying Congress a little more time to resolve the issue and averting a potentially catastrophic U.S. default.

MCCONNELL: "Republican and Democratic members and staff negotiated through the night in good faith. The Senate is moving toward the plan I laid out yesterday to spare the American people a manufactured crisis."

McConnell offered the temporary increase on Wednesday, after demanding that Senate Democrats raise the debt ceiling through budget reconciliation, the complicated process that would not require any Republican votes.

Democrats had been trying to pass legislation that would have raised the debt limit through the end of 2022 but Republicans blocked that effort.

After agreeing on the temporary fix, Republicans said they had been worried that Democrats might try to exempt the debt ceiling vote from a rule known as the filibuster, which requires a supermajority of 60 votes to pass most legislation.

MCCONNELL: "Now, there will be no question, they'll have plenty of time."

McConnell is now demanding that Democrats use the two-month extension to pass a longer-term debt limit increase through reconciliation. But some Democrats said they were still not going to do that, maintaining that it would be too complicated and risky.

Congress now has several weeks to try to agree on either a longer-term solution or another stop-gap measure.

Lawmakers also face a federal funding deadline in December, setting the stage for a possible government shutdown.