There is growing worry among some rank-and-file Democrats that their tunnel-vision mentality on a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill could provoke economic blowback if Republicans hold the line and tank efforts to lift the debt ceiling. And Democrats’ threadbare majorities in Congress are leaving the party with little time to wriggle out of a dangerous economic morass that could overwhelm their other priorities, from voting rights to tax increases on the wealthy to a sweeping expansion of the social safety net.

Top Democrats insist they have a plan — they just don’t want to talk about it yet. And they are urging calm before a calamitous month of legislating…

Government funding runs out in just 18 days, and the Biden administration says the debt ceiling must be raised shortly after that — with Senate Republican votes that GOP leaders say they will not provide. What’s more, the House doesn’t come back until Sept. 20, which leaves precious little time to keep the trains running, all as President Joe Biden faces the worst approval ratings of his young presidency.