Jeffries Indicates Democrats May Move To Discharge Clean Debt Limit Bill

Democrat House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has signaled in a "dear colleagues" letter to Democrat lawmakers that he may move to set up a floor vote on a clear debt ceiling bill via a discharge petition.

• Jeffries: “"The filing of a debt ceiling measure to be brought up on the discharge calendar preserves an important option...”
• Chad Pegram at Fox News breaks down the procedural mechanism by which this may force the bill through the House: "A successful discharge petition allows a coalition of lawmakers to go above the head of the House leadership and put a bill on the floor – provided they have 218 signatures. That requires a combination of all 213 Democrats and five Republicans."
• Pegram: "It they are successful, they could bring up a measure to lift the debt ceiling on their own. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) would have no way of blocking this."
• Pegram notes, however, that "discharge petitions are tough and rarely successful. Only two discharge petitions have been successful in the House in the past two decades."
• Full letter per Andrew Solender at Axios: LINK