The clock is running out. Any bipartisan agreement needs to come together very soon – either Monday or Tuesday – or else the nation runs a serious risk of running out of the ability to borrow money as soon as Thursday. In 2011, a last-minute deal to lift the debt limit resulted in a credit downgrade of U.S. debt.

The timing for a vote in the Senate is unclear. If any senator objects, it could drag out the process until after the Thursday deadline to avert a potential default; otherwise, a vote could occur imminently. The Senate is expected to vote on the measure before the House, aides said Monday evening.

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If Reid and McConnell are able to reach an agreement, it will put pressure on Boehner to act — even if it requires allowing a vote on a deal that’s not supported by a majority of House Republicans.

While the proposal has similarities to one offered by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) last week, it has some very key differences over the length of the stop-gap spending measure and the debt ceiling hike. Collins proposed extending government spending for six months, which Democrats objected to because they argued it would lock in the $967 billion sequestration levels for 2014 required under the 2011 Budget Control Act. She also suggested extending the debt ceiling through the end of January, and the emerging deal appears to hew closely to that timeframe.

Because the prospective deal would not gut Obamacare, tea party conservatives will likely attack the proposal as too weak to support. But Republicans already began making the case that they were able to at least win some Obamacare concessions even if it doesn’t derail the law.

Democrats, too, appeared close to winning an Obamacare concession for labor unions. Just last month, the White House rejected pleas from labor leaders to allow their members to get Obamacare’s tax subsidies. The law doesn’t allow participants in multi-employer plans to get subsidies — a slight that unions said would lead to a breakdown in their health plans. But delaying the reinsurance tax would be viewed favorably by many of their allies in labor, even as it would anger insurance companies.

On another track, House Republican leadership is readying itself to lift the debt ceiling for six weeks. House GOP aides stress that no decisions have been made, but this legislation is unlikely to be “clean” – meaning it will contain a number of conservative policies attached. Options under consideration include language to cancel health insurance subsidies for members of Congress, their aides and the White House, and an amendment to tighten requirements for health-insurance related subsidies.

House Republicans are expected to meet Tuesday morning to discuss their options.

Ginger Gibson, Jennifer Haberkorn and Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly attributed a quote about “frailties that we have as people and legislators” to McConnell that had been said by Reid.