House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has announced that House Democrats have taken a key procedural step that could be used to bypass House Republican leadership and enable Democrats to attempt to force a vote to raise the debt ceiling, according to a new letter obtained by CNN.
The move is the next step House Democrats need to take to preserve all of their options as lawmakers stare down a June 1 deadline of potential default if Congress doesn’t act to address the debt limit before then.
The procedural step could be used to bring up a discharge petition to address the debt limit, but Democrats would need Republican support for the step to go into effect and it’s unclear how much exists.
A discharge petition can be used to force a floor vote, but only if a majority of House members sign on in support. It’s difficult for discharge petitions to succeed because of the high threshold that must be cleared.
The discharge petition addressing the debt ceiling would be packaged as an amendment to a bill from Democratic Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, legislation that has already been filed with various committees of jurisdiction.
“House Democrats are working to make sure we have all options at our disposal to avoid a default,” Jeffries wrote in a dear colleague letter obtained by CNN. “At the beginning of the 118th Congress, Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, working with leadership, introduced legislation that could be used as a vehicle to avert the Republican-manufactured default crisis.”
“The filing of a debt ceiling measure to be brought up on the discharge calendar preserves an important option,” the minority leader added.
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