House Dems Unveil Secret Plan to Force ‘Clean’ Debt Ceiling Vote

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 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.

House Democrats on Tuesday announced a secret plan to break through the partisan logjam that’s dogging talks over the debt ceiling and threatening a government default. 

The strategy, hatched in January and kept under wraps since then, is designed to force a vote on a debt limit hike even over the objections of Republican leaders, who both control the floor and are demanding trillions of dollars in spending cuts as a condition of preventing a default — cuts President Biden has refused to consider.