Democratic minority leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday pledged their "support" to raise the debt ceiling and approve Harvey relief, with a highly political caveat.
They'll agree only to raise the debt ceiling for three months, which would set up an end of year fight, Politico reported. Republicans are looking to extend the debt ceiling until the end of 2018.
That raised the ire of House Speaker Paul Ryan, calling the proposition "unworkable."
"I think that's a ridiculous idea. I hope they don't mean that. We have all this devastation in Texas; we've got another unprecedented hurricane about to hit Florida, and they want to play politics with the debt ceiling?" Ryan said Wednesday.
"That will strand the aid we need to bring to these victims of these storms that have occurred or about to occur, and they also threaten to default on our debt — I think that's ridiculous and disgraceful that they want to play politics with the debt ceiling at this moment."
Lawmakers have until Sept. 29 to raise the debt ceiling.
Schumer and Pelosi are capitalizing on what they see as leverage, given the discord amongst Republicans to attach the debt ceiling to Harvey relief.
"Given Republican difficulty in finding the votes for their plan, we believe this proposal offers a bipartisan path forward to ensure prompt delivery of Harvey aid as well as avoiding a default, while both sides work together to address government funding, Dreamers, and healthcare," Schumer and Pelosi said in a joint statement.
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