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From the CNBC article:

The Senate late Thursday passed a House-approved bill to raise the debt ceiling and cap government spending for two years, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden’s desk .

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/01/debt-ce ... dates.html

Why is the "a" article being used here? The article describes a specific one-of-a-kind bill that saves the country from a default, not just some random bill. Shouldn't "the" be used instead?

The rules concerning use of articles are complex and it would go beyond the scope of this forum to explain them in full.

However, to put it simply: although there are a number of universally accepted special cases such as "the sun/the moon" etc., essentially if the item in question - here, a bill - has not been previously mentioned in the text, it is simply 'a (House-approved) bill', irrespective of its uniqueness from a political, or any other, viewpoint. (However, in any subsequent reference, it would naturally become "the bill".)