The Senate is poised to pass the bill as soon as Friday night after it overwhelmingly cleared the House, 366 to 34, in the evening. More Democrats (196) voted for it than Republicans (170); all the no votes came from GOP House members. One Democrat voted present.
Between the lines: Trump officials have been quietly contemplating a deal on the debt ceiling for weeks, but they apparently only sprang it on Johnson in the last 48 hours. That doomed an agreement that was already on shaky ground.
Some Trump loyalists see the debt ceiling as a ticking time bomb, set to detonate in the middle of Trump's first year. The smartest thing to do, they say, is to defuse it now.
The promise Johnson made gives the hardliners, in theory, what they want: $2.5 trillion in deficit reduction on mandatory spending for a $1.5 trillion increase in the debt limit.
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