Debt ceiling showdown looms as Democrats and Republicans clash.

Democratic senators are urging House Democrats to begin working on a plan to force Republicans to vote on a bill to raise the debt limit to avoid a summer standoff on extending the nation’s borrowing authority. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has shelved the idea of circulating a discharge petition to force a vote on a clean debt limit increase, opting instead to put pressure on Speaker Kevin McCarthy to schedule such a vote himself. But McCarthy is showing no signs of backing down from his demand that President Biden agree to big spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.