Biden dials top Democrats as shutdown countdown begins - POLITICO

The president, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer plan to speak Thursday as a government shutdown and fiscal cliff loom.

President Joe Biden plans to hold a joint call with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, left, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, right, on Thursday afternoon.

President Joe Biden plans to hold a joint call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday afternoon, while the top Democrats mull their options for handling both the Sept.

While they prepare the bill for floor action, majority party leaders are deciding whether to pair the must-pass funding package to avoid a shutdown with a measure to tackle the approaching debt cliff — a plan Republicans vehemently promise to reject.

A bill that addresses both fiscal threats would likely pass the House, but its odds are highly questionable in the Senate, where all but four GOP lawmakers have promised to vote against raising the debt limit.

Majority party leaders can maximize their leverage over Republicans by coupling the issues, forcing GOP lawmakers to either fall in line or go on record against billions of dollars in disaster aid, preventing a government shutdown and avoiding debt default.

But any measure to raise or suspend the debt limit must be left off, GOP lawmakers said, insisting that Democrats handle a typically bipartisan issue alone, since the majority party is pursuing multitrillion-dollar spending plans without Republican support