House Lawmakers Mull Rare Procedure To Break Debt Ceiling Standoff

Daniel ChaitinJanuary 19, 2023

Members from both parties are invited to the House You are open to the idea of using a seldom-used item “discharge petition” To force a vote to raise the debt ceiling, Democratic leaders refuse negotiation.

Democrats and moderate Republicans in the United States are currently discussing the procedure by which a measure is forced out of a Committee for a House Floor vote. hit its borrowing limit At $31.4 trillion, the Treasury Department was compelled to take “extraordinary measures” To prevent defaults in the short-term.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) told Semafor The discharge petition can be found here “one of many options” He is currently collaborating with Rep. Josh Gottheimer, (D-NJ), to reach some kind of deal. In speaking with CNNFitzpatrick stated that forcing a vote to increase the debt ceiling without conditions is not an option. “absolute last option.”

Rep. Jim Clyburn, the assistant Democratic leader in Congress (D-SC), stated that members of his party should cooperate with Republicans if they decide to file a discharge petition. “I believe that what we ought to do as Democrats is join with whatever Republicans that may exist that want to do something about this, so if a Republican puts up a discharge petition, I’ll certainly sign it,” Clyburn told CBS News.

A discharge petition is a bill that has to be presented to a committee within 30 days. It must also have 218 signatures and spend seven legislative calendar days. Finally, the speaker has two days to schedule a time to vote on notice. The Senate will then consider the measure if it is approved.

The mechanism is now in place used sparingly over the years. Emanuel Celler is Chairman of Judiciary Committee (D-NY). initiated a discharge petition The Civil Rights Act of 64 was being held up by Rules Committee. The discharge petition didn’t get enough signatures. However the legislation was eventually considered and passed. In recent years, many House Republicans joined hands with Democrats. supporting a discharge petition To force the lower chamber to rescue the Export-Import Bank in 2015.

Kevin McCarthy (Republican from California) was the House Speaker. He agreed to seek. spending cuts McCarthy did this in an effort to win over conservative holdouts that had resisted his bid for the gavel. McCarthy rejected this week the idea of a debt limit increase without conditions. instead pushing to find “a path to get us to a balanced budget and let’s start paying this debt off.”

McCarthy claims he is open to talks but Democratic leaders resist negotiations. Karine Jean-Pierre is White House Press Secretary said Tuesday, “We are not going to be negotiating over the debt ceiling,” Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said, “there should be no political brinkmanship with the debt limit.”