Senate Minority Whip John Thune said he is confident there will be at least nine Republican senators who support the debt ceiling bill once it comes to the chamber.
This will likely pave the way for the eventual passage of the bill if Senate Democrats are unified.
“None of these are perfect. We all know that. Members are concerned about the defense number, but you have to weigh it in the context of everything that was achieved and yes, it certainly wasn’t a perfect deal from our vantage point, but I think the wins certainly are significant,” Thune said.
The big question now is how long it is going to take to pass it.
“If we receive it tomorrow night then it is just a question of figuring out what the appetite is for amendments and kind of how our guys want to proceed,” Thune said.
Remember: The timeframe to get the bill passed through both chambers of Congress and signed into law is extremely tight. Lawmakers are racing the clock to avert a catastrophic default ahead of June 5, the day the Treasury Department has said it will no longer be able to pay all of the nation’s obligations in full and on time.
The powerful House Rules Committee must vote to adopt the rule, a hurdle that must be cleared before the bill can come to the House floor for a final vote. If the bill passes in the full House, it would then head to the Senate for approval.
Procedurally, there are a number of ways that members could muck up the works, but Thune said leadership is still accessing “the mood of the conference” and will have a better sense of how long this will take in the upcoming days.
With a time agreement, the Senate could move rapidly to pass the debt ceiling bill.
Without one, the regular Senate process would slip beyond the June 5 deadline. There is optimism they could find a way forward, but Thune was clear it could take some time to sort out over the next few days.
GOP Sen. John Cornyn said he thought it was more likely than not that lawmakers would work the weekend.
Cornyn wouldn’t commit to backing the bill saying he wanted to see what comes out of the House, but he was effusive in his praise for McCarthy saying it was a “heroic” effort at a compromise.
He downplayed the conservative pushback against the bill from the House Freedom Caucus.
“The very definition of a compromise means there is going to be some people dissatisfied. You can always say ‘you could have done better,’” Cornyn said. “I’m waiting to see what the sausage looks like when it comes out of the House.”
Cornyn said he was also concerned about the defense number.
