Senate leaders have reached an agreement aimed at wrapping up passage of the House-passed “clean” debt limit increase on Wednesday, according to Democratic and Republican leadership sources.
They have scheduled two back-to-back votes starting at 1:45 p.m. First there’ll be a “cloture” motion to advance the bill, at a 60-vote threshold, and then final passage, requiring 51 votes.
“We are confident that we’ll be well over 60 votes,” said a Democratic leadership aide. “Once cloture is invoked, time will be yielded.”
That means lawmakers like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who strongly oppose the debt limit hike, won’t use up debate time to slow down final passage. A Cruz aide told TPM only that he’ll insist on a 60-vote threshold.
After those two votes, the Senate will vote to approve the House-passed bill to reverse recently enacted cuts to military retirement benefits.