House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on Tuesday that Democrats will begin sounding out moderate — and potentially vulnerable — Republican lawmakers about forcing a vote on raising the debt ceiling before the June 1 deadline.
Mr. Jeffries, New York Democrat, said officially the maneuver was to give lawmakers a backup option if talks fail next week between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden.
“House Democrats are working to ensure we have all options at our disposal to avoid a default,” Mr. Jeffries wrote in a letter to Democratic lawmakers. “The filing of a debt ceiling measure to be brought up on the discharge calendar preserves an important option.”
Officially, Democrats are pushing a petition to force legislation to the House floor that would raise the debt ceiling without any strings attached. To succeed, at least 218 lawmakers would need to sign on.
At the moment, Republicans hold a narrow 222-to-213 seat majority in the House. That means at least five Republicans would have to join with every Democrat to force a vote on the measure. Among the GOP, 18 lawmakers represent districts won by Mr. Biden in 2020.
The development came one day after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Congress that the U.S. might be unable to pay its bills as early as June 1 if lawmakers do not raise the federal debt limit.
“Our best estimate is that we will be unable to continue to satisfy all of the government’s obligations by early June, and potentially as early as June 1,” Ms. Yellen wrote in a letter to congressional leaders.
It was initially believed that Congress had at least until the end of June to raise the debt limit, but Ms. Yellen said lower-than-expected tax revenue has forced the date forward.
Since January, the Treasury Department has undertaken “extraordinary measures” to stave off default after the government hit its $31.4 trillion borrowing capacity. Those emergency tactics give the government only enough room to cover day-to-day expenses.
House Republicans have long demanded spending cuts in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling, and they approved legislation last week to achieve that goal. The GOP bill would raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion until May 2024 in exchange for $4.8 trillion in spending cuts.
Apart from raising the debt limit, the Republican bill would cut federal spending by $130 billion for the upcoming fiscal year and limit budget growth to 1% annually over the next decade.
Mr. Biden has refused to negotiate, saying both Democrats and Republicans have contributed to the national debt. The president is sticking to that position even with the new deadline.
“It is clear that the only practical path to avoid default is for Congress to suspend the debt limit without conditions,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
While refusing to negotiate on raising the debt limit, Ms. Jean-Pierre said that Mr. Biden would pitch Mr. McCarthy next week about initiating a “separate process to address the budget and appropriations” process.
• Haris Alic can be reached at halic@washingtontimes.com.
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