What solutions are on the table?

Though Thursday is the expected limit deadline, Yellen said, the Treasury will take “extraordinary measures” expected to tide the government over until at least early June.

In the meantime, Congress will continue negotiations. House Republicans, led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy, are expected to use the debate as leverage to push for spending cuts.

“We’ve got a Republican House, a Democratic Senate. You’ve got the president there,” McCarthy told Capitol Hill reporters Tuesday. “I think it’s arrogance to say: ‘ Oh, we’re not going to negotiate about anything,’ especially when it comes to funding. If anyone had a child and their credit card kept hitting the limit, you’d want to change the behavior.”

One contingency plan by Republicans, not made public but reported by The Washington Post, would have the government making payments based on a list of priorities. Under this plan, crucial expenses such as debt interest and Medicare would be paid off while leaving out other obligations.

Democrats have said such a proposal would be a nonstarter, though. White House press secretary Karine Jean- Pierre said in a briefing Monday that the administration would not be open to negotiations and that Congress needs to solve the problem “without conditions.”

“This is not a plan. It is a recipe for economic catastrophe,” Jean- Pierre said. “This is the duty of Congress. This is something that is their basic duty to deal with the debt ceiling, … It should not be used as a political football.”

This is not the first time the GOP has proposed the strategy. But experts then and now have warned against it, saying the approach would not stave off economic downfall.