Congress likely can't afford to wait until October 18 to raise the debt ceiling. Here's why.

Congress is staring down a potential financial catastrophe with no clear resolution in sight.

The debt limit must be either raised or suspended soon with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warning lawmakers that the federal government will likely run out of cash by October 18 unless Congress raises the debt ceiling. But they might not even have that long.

And Democrats and Republicans are at an impasse over how to fix the problem. Republicans argue that Democrats, who control both chambers of Congress and the White House, should address the issue on their own without GOP votes, while Democrats insist the issue is a shared bipartisan responsibility.