The contours of a deal to speed up consideration of the debt ceiling bill are starting to take shape, with Senate leadership negotiating a series of amendment votes to satisfy members ready to slow down its passage.
The Senate has until Monday to avoid a possible default, a time crunch complicated by the chamber operating by unanimous consent. Any single senator can hold up the bill, which passed the House in a blowout vote on Wednesday. That means Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) must negotiate a time agreement to move the legislation quickly.
EVERY HOUSE MEMBER WHO VOTED AGAINST PASSING THE DEBT LIMIT BILL
Senate leaders, starting from a list of about 30 proposed amendments, have narrowed that number down to roughly a dozen. Nearly all were submitted by Republicans upset at spending levels in the deal. Defense hawks are fuming over the 3% increase in defense, which, if adjusted for inflation, is actually a cut, while fiscal hawks wanted to see House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) negotiate deeper budget cuts with President Joe Biden.
Leadership is eyeing amendment votes for the following GOP senators: Rand Paul (KY), Mike Braun (IN), Roger Marshall (KS), Lindsey Graham (SC), Mike Lee (UT), Rick Scott (FL), Dan Sullivan (AK), Josh Hawley (MO), Ted Cruz (TX), John Kennedy (LA), and Tom Cotton (AR). An amendment by Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) is also under consideration but may not be put forward, according to a Republican senator familiar with the list.
The amendment votes are still in flux, the senator noted, and it's possible two will be consolidated.
The amendments tackle some of the perceived deficiencies of the bill. McCarthy secured a provision called PAYGO, which requires the Biden administration to offset the cost of new regulations, but the legislation allows the president's budget director to waive that requirement. Lee has introduced an amendment that would strike that waiver authority.
Scott's amendment would rescind $80 billion in new IRS funding that conservatives say will be used to target the middle class. The debt ceiling compromise only rescinds $1.4 billion and requires the president to reallocate $20 billion of it elsewhere in the budget.
One Democrat, Sen. Tim Kaine (VA), is also expected to receive an amendment vote. The bill includes approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a key priority of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), but the project runs through Kaine's state. The senator says he was not consulted by the White House before the provision was added.
Lee said he's not hopeful any of the amendments will clear the 60-vote threshold needed to pass, but senators generally view the amendments as important to put their colleagues on the record.
"I mean, the odds are against us," he told reporters, "because there are enough people who really, really, really want this bill to pass, and very often what happens is they circle the wagons and people who might otherwise be inclined to vote for some of the amendments, vote against them, saying, 'Oh, it's a poison bill, we can't do that.'"
Amendment votes aren't the only demands Republicans are making of leadership. Graham has threatened to stall the bill past the Monday "X-date," when the Treasury Department says it will no longer be able to pay all of its bills, if Schumer does not commit to a supplemental bill on Ukraine aid.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Meanwhile, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, wants a guarantee that all 12 appropriations bills will be brought to the floor. If they are not, the debt ceiling bill puts in place a 1%, across-the-board cut.
Senate leadership is hoping to pass the bill as soon as Thursday night, though a final vote could slip to Friday or even the weekend.