Congress race against time before nation’s funds run out: All eyes on House as Democrat leader tries to force clean debt limit vote, McConnell says Senate not ‘relevant player’ is in negotiations
- Democrats and Republicans are feeling a new sense of urgency after the Treasury said the country could run out of money to pay its bills on June 1.
- Jeffries would need the signatures of five GOP moderates in the House to advance the bill, and would need 60 votes in the Senate to pass it
- McConnell confirms he will attend next week’s White House meeting with McCarthy, but sit on the sidelines
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries indicated he would try to force a vote on a clean debt ceiling raise through a discharge request, even if Republicans empathize with their insistence that the president should negotiate.
The bill is dead on arrival in the Democrat-led Senate. Now Jeffries is using a rare procedural tactic where the minority can force a clean debt ceiling bill – a discharge request.
“We will be in direct contact regarding the discharge effort upon our return to Washington next week,” Jeffries said in a Dear Colleague letter.
But Jeffries would need the signatures of five GOP moderates in the House to move the bill forward, and would need 60 votes in the Senate to pass it.
Only two requests for discharge have ever made it through the House of Representatives.
Democrats and Republicans alike are feeling a new sense of urgency after the Treasury announced Monday that the country could run out of money to pay its bills as early as June 1.
“We will be in direct contact upon our return to Washington next week in connection with the discharge effort,” Jeffries said in a Dear Colleague letter Tuesday.
President Biden has scheduled a meeting with McCarthy on May 9 after refusing to meet with the GOP leader for three months. He has also invited Jeffries, Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell – all of whom will attend the meeting.
While McConnell said he would witness the negotiations, he stressed that the Senate does not play a central role in making a deal.
“The president and the speaker must come to an agreement,” he said. “There is no solution in the Senate.”
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pushed for the Senate to pass a clean debt ceiling package, dismissing the idea floated by some Republicans of a short-term 30-day debt ceiling extension .
He also placed a vote for a clean debt ceiling on the Senate floor calendar.
“We shouldn’t kick the can on the road. We should go for two years [extension].’
He plans to introduce a bill that raises the debt limit until December 21, 2024, insisting that it is only time to talk about spending cuts after the debt limit is raised.
Schumer also suppressed the possibility of invoking the 14th Amendment – an idea that was doing the rounds.
The 14th Amendment cites a little-used provision that reads: “The validity of the national debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for the payment of pensions and contributions for services in the suppression of insurrection or rebellion, shall not be doubted. ‘
“The right way forward is a clean debt ceiling,” Schumer said.
McConnell confirms he will attend next week’s White House meeting with McCarthy, but sit on the sidelines
Senate Republicans supported Speaker McCarthy by saying there would be no bill for the debt ceiling unless Democrats agreed to cuts.
“A clean debt ceiling is not going to happen,” said Senate GOP Whip John Thune.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday that Biden will not negotiate the debt limit at the meeting, but will “discuss whether to initiate a separate process to address the budget and appropriations.”
“The only practical way is to suspend the debt limit without conditions,” said Jean-Pierre.
Last week, Republicans in the House of Representatives passed a bill that would raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion in exchange for $4.5 trillion in spending cuts. Biden has long insisted that he would sit down with the speaker once Republicans had a plan on paper.