House Democrats on Tuesday revealed 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. 

On Tuesday, less than 24 hours after the Treasury Department warned that such a lapse could occur as soon as June 1, Democratic leaders unveiled their closely held plan — a long-shot gambit, known as a discharge petition, that forces floor action on legislation that’s backed by a majority of House lawmakers.

In a letter to fellow Democrats, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) outlined that strategy, revealing that the legislative vehicle Democrats intend to use was introduced in January — very quietly and without any fanfare — by Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.). And on Tuesday, during a pro forma session of the House, Rep. Jim McGovern (Mass.), the senior Democrat on the Rules Committee, introduced a “special rule” designed to guide that bill to the floor if the discharge petition is successful.  

The news was first reported by The New York Times. 

DEVELOPING.