Just 10 days remain before the debt ceiling is breached. | REUTERS Dems eye long-term debt ceiling hike

The Democratic push to lift the nation’s debt ceiling — without any restrictions — will begin in earnest this week, as Senate Democrats plan to ratchet up public pressure for a long-term increase.

Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to begin taking the procedural steps necessary to force the Senate to consider a “clean” increase of the $16.7 trillion ceiling, several sources said. Depending on when Reid acts, the first procedural vote could occur by week’s end, forcing Democrats to corral the support of at least six Republicans to break a GOP-led filibuster. The length of the extension is still being debated among top Democrats, but sources indicated that Reid is likely to push for an increase through the 2014 elections.


Republicans were holding their fire on whether they would attempt to block procedural votes to consider the debt ceiling increase. Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn of Texas said he personally would not support raising the debt ceiling without structural fiscal reform but was noncommittal on whether Republicans would unify to block the bill.

( QUIZ: How well do you know shutdown news?)

“It’s premature because he hasn’t even filed it, but I think it’s a very bad idea,” Cornyn said.

A senior GOP aide said other Republican considerations include how “clean” the debt ceiling bill is, how long the increase will last and how many votes on amendments will be allowed.

That comes as Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will testify before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday morning to make the case that the nation’s $16.7 trillion borrowing limit should be raised — with no strings attached — to avert on Oct. 17, the prospects of the first U.S. default.

Approving the debt ceiling hike will be a heavy lift in the Senate, given the GOP demands that any increase in the nation’s borrowing limit must include policy changes and spending cuts. Democrats, who are demanding a clean increase in the debt ceiling, say they don’t want to relive the 2011 battle when partisan brinkmanship over the matter led to the first downgrading of U.S. credit rating by Standard & Poor’s.

( POLITICO Breakfast: Sperling: Era of threatening default over)

At a POLITICO Playbook Breakfast on Monday, National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling left the door open to a short-term debt ceiling increase.

“There’s no question that the longer the debt limit is extended, the greater economic certainty there will be in our economy, which would be better for jobs, growth and investment. That said, it is the responsibility of Congress to decide how long and how often they want to vote on doing that,” Sperling said.

The push over the debt ceiling underscored how the prospects of the first debt default were quickly overshadowing the fight over reopening the government, which has been shut down since last Tuesday over the failure of Congress to enact a stopgap spending measure. Highlighting the tensions, senior aides for Reid and House Speaker John Boehner traded sharp partisan barbs Monday morning, each blaming the other for the partisan impasse. Later, Reid and Boehner took to their respective chambers in a rare display of simultaneous debate.

( Also on POLITICO: Shutdown: The right's new litmus test)

With the federal government headed toward a second week of shutdown and just 10 days remaining before the debt ceiling deadline is breached, Boehner and Reid appear as far apart as ever, attempting to saddle the blame of the congressional stalemate squarely on the other party. And for a third straight week, the squabbling could bleed into weekend sessions without a breakthrough.

Senate Democrats, in particular, are irked by Boehner’s assertion on Sunday that a Senate bill funding the government for six weeks free of Obamacare provisions won’t pass the House. There are 20 or so House Republicans who are believed to support the Senate’s six-week spending bill set at the $986 billion spending levels, but Boehner waved away that notion on Sunday, eliciting a response from Reid emblematic of the bad blood between the two leaders that seems to only increase with each passing day.

“I believe he’s mistaken,” Reid said of Boehner’s math. “One sure way to find out whether the bill would pass is to have a vote on it.”

( POLITICO's full government shutdown coverage)

Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson said Boehner’s assertions about the bill’s level of support are part of a “consistent pattern of Speaker Boehner saying things that fly in the face of the facts or stand at odds with his past actions.”

Boehner’s office replied in kind, pushing back on the notion that Reid has compromised with Boehner by accepting the $986 billion level, which is some $70 billion below the spending levels preferred by Senate Democrats. In recent days, Reid said he met privately with Boehner in September and agreed to put forward a clean continuing resolution at that spending level, which Reid had called a difficult compromise for his members to swallow.

But Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said, “Passing a spending bill at the level required by law isn’t a ‘concession,’” a reference to the 2011 bipartisan Budget Control Act that set the spending cap for 2014. Furthermore, the speaker’s office predicted a clean debt ceiling increase can’t even pass the Senate, which is a path Democratic leaders say they plan to soon pursue.

( PHOTOS: 18 times the government has shut down)

“It’s time for Senate Democrats to stow their faux outrage and deal with the problems at hand. The federal government is shut down because Democrats refuse to negotiate, and the debt limit is right around the corner,” Steel said.

A senior GOP aide also panned a Reid interview with POLITICO surrounding his prospects for reelection in 2016, in which the wily majority leader said the shutdown is “killing the Republicans.”

Despite the stalemate over the government shutdown, the trickier issue for Congress right now is the debt ceiling hike. On Sunday, Boehner told ABC that “we are not going to pass a clean debt limit increase,” demanding cuts to spending to be part of an overall package. The White House refuses to negotiate over tying the debt ceiling hike to any policy changes.

In a brief speech Monday, Boehner insisted that President Barack Obama’s unwillingness to negotiate is threatening the nation’s economy.

“Really, Mr. President,” Boehner said. “It’s time to have that conversation before our economy is put further at risk.”

The House and Senate remain on separate legislative tracks, with the House on Monday voting on yet another piecemeal bill funding a portion of the government through Dec. 15, an approach Reid and his lieutenants refuse to consider. Meanwhile, the Senate held its first roll call votes in a week on a pair of judges, the first time all 100 senators have gathered on the floor since the government shutdown began.

Kevin Cirilli and Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.