House Democrats have taken their first procedural steps to try to force a House vote on a clean debt ceiling increase, multiple Democratic leadership aides tell CBS News, a long-shot effort that is unlikely to come to fruition but allows Democrats to argue that they are taking action to address the looming crisis.
By introducing the rule Tuesday, Democrats will be able to designate it as what's known as a discharge petition and begin collecting signatures as early as May 16. A discharge petition is a mechanism that forces a floor vote on any measure that gets 218 signatures, the majority of the House. Signatures must be added in person while the House is in session.
Discharge petitions are rarely successful because they require at least some members of the majority to buck their leadership and join with the minority. In recent years, the procedural move has been used just twice to bring bills to the House floor: once in 2002 to pass a bipartisan campaign finance reform bill, and once in 2015 to reauthorize the Import-Export bank.
Loans Loans Latest News, Loans Loans Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: WashTimes - 🏆 235. / 63 Read more »
Source: NBCNews - 🏆 10. / 86 Read more »