Senate leaders sprint toward debt limit finish line

Politics

Senate leaders are scrambling to cut a deal to vote quickly on the debt bill, hoping to finish work before the weekend and well before the June 5 default deadline.

There’s a growing feeling that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell can work something out among all 100 senators, a prerequisite to speed up a vote. Without that agreement, the Senate’s consideration of the budget and debt ceiling deal would push well into next week.

The House’s whopping 314-117 vote to pass the debt limit deal created a sense of inevitability in the Senate. Despite defections among liberal and conservative senators, the chamber is likely to put up similarly solid numbers in support of the deal, easily clearing the supermajority requirement.