With Senate negotiators reportedly close to reaching a deal to reopen the federal government, Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pennsylvania, told CNN’s Jake Tapper late Tuesday evening that he believes Speaker John Boehner will have no choice but to bypass normal procedures and bring the in-the-works bill to the House floor.

"I believe that John Boehner will likely be in a position where he will have to essentially pass the bill that is negotiated between Sens. McConnell and Reid," Dent said.



Citing the looming debt ceiling deadline, Dent said he believes Boehner, because of the more time-consuming legislative process required to launch the measure from the Senate, will bring the Reid-McConnell compromise up for an open vote in the lower chamber.

"I believe it would be much quicker if the House were to take the existing vehicle, that's the continuing resolution bill, load it up with the agreement just described, and then send it back to the Senate," Dent said.

Dent also added that the bill would pass with a majority of Democrats and a minority of Republicans, breaking the “Hastert Rule.”

The Pennsylvania Republican told Tapper he remains surprised by how long it's taken to reach a resolution, saying he was “surprised” the House was never given the opportunity to vote on a “clean” continuing resolution. But Dent refused to toss blame Speaker Boehner’s way. He insisted that concerns over protecting his speakership - and appeasing the Tea Party aligned wing of the GOP - never governed the Ohio Republican’s decision making process. Rather, Dent said the House has taken so long to reach this point because some of his Republican colleagues acted with a “minority party mentality.”

“I think the Speaker’s position is actually secure,” Dent said. “Some of the leadership got pulled over by this really poorly thought-out tactic by Sen. Cruz to defund Obamacare as part of the C.R.”