All 213 Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives support a “discharge petition” that could end the debt-ceiling standoff, House Minority Whip Katherine Clark told reporters on Wednesday. It would need to get the support of five House Republicans in order to pass the 435-seat chamber. A discharge petition is a parliamentary procedure that lets lawmakers bypass leadership, which is critical since the House is currently run by Republicans.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday appeared to push back against some of his fellow Republicans who have expressed skepticism about Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s debt-ceiling deadline of June 1. “Whoever is the secretary of the Treasury, I’m going to take whatever date they say,” the California Republican said during a Fox Business interview. “There’s probably leeway … but if she says that’s the date, that’s the date I’ve been working on.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy continued to sound somewhat upbeat on Washington’s debt-ceiling standoff, as he spoke on Wednesday during a Fox Business interview. “We are in the room right now negotiating,” the California Republican said. “I think things are going a little better, but you know the challenge here. Democrats continue to want to spend more.”