WASHINGTON — Congress adjourned for the three-day Memorial Day weekend with the fate of the federal debt ceiling in limbo until their return.

On Saturday night, May 27, the outlines of a possible deal between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-California, were announced. A vote on a package that would lift the nearly $32 trillion debt ceiling while capping non-military and veterans spending could occur late this week.

“The agreement represents a compromise, which means not everyone gets what they want,” Biden said late May 27. “That’s the responsibility of governing.”

The fractious negotiations were underlined by a tweet from McCarthy, who confirmed a deal was in the works but took a shot at Biden for his initial stance that the debt ceiling increase should not be a subject of partisan negotiations.

“After he wasted time and refused to negotiate for months, we’ve come to an agreement in principle that is worthy of the American people,” McCarthy tweeted.

Reports of the possible deal came as members of Congress had left Capitol Hill for the federal holiday honoring Americans who died while serving the United States. The three-day weekend is a traditional time for politicians to return to their districts for community ceremonies.

The congressional hiatus came as gridlock over raising the debt ceiling approached a possible first-ever default by the United States on its debt. The short timeline leaves little room for maneuvering between Democrats and Republicans.

Members of Congress have been told to keep alert to developments on the debt ceiling in case they are called back early to vote on a deal.

McCarthy said May 27 that he planned to stick with his promise that lawmakers would have time to get back to Capitol Hill after Memorial Day and have at least 72 hours to look at the compromise legislation before being asked to vote.

Negotiators received notice of a little more breathing room on Friday when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the deadline for raising the federal debt ceiling would be June 5 instead of June 1, as she forecast earlier in the week.

Oregon GOP House members in spotlight

The November election led to Republicans taking control of the U.S. House for the first time in four years. Two of the six members of Congress from Oregon are in the new GOP majority.

The votes by U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, and U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Happy Valley, will be a key test for the compromise plan between Biden and McCarthy.

Chavez-DeRemer tweeted an initial reaction, echoing McCarthy’s statement blaming Biden for the deal facing tight deadline to beat a possible federal debt default.

”The brinksmanship could’ve been avoided if the president came to the table when the House acted to lift the debt ceiling in April,” Chavez-DeRemer wrote. “But I’m encouraged to hear the negotiating team has reached an initial deal. I look forward to reviewing the text of the bill over the next few days.”

Bentz in an interview May 26 detailed his trip back to his district for the weekend and contingency plans for returning if a deal was sealed.

Bentz said he was working on irrigation equipment on his property May 26 in Malheur County. He’d arrived home in the early morning hours after flying from Washington to nearby Boise.

Bentz attended an event in Central Point over the weekend honoring the late Secretary of State Dennis Richardson, the Republican who died in office in February 2019. On Memorial Day, he spoke at the wreath-laying ceremony at Eagle Point National Cemetery outside Medford.

Bentz is in his second term representing the overwhelmingly Republican-leaning 2nd Congressional District that covers most of Eastern, Central and parts of Southwest Oregon.

Bentz said he was open to changes to the original spending and tax plan passed by the House but rejected by the Senate.

“The fact that it will come back in a different form is understandable,” Bentz said. “I’m anxious to see what they come up with.”

Bentz said getting a consensus to pass a plan through the Republican-majority House and the Democratic-majority Senate will depend on the details of the eventual compromise.

The deal “has so many moving parts,” he said.

Bentz said the key to his support will be a cap on future spending, a requirement for work by beneficiaries of some programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and no new taxes.

Bentz knows his open mind on a compromise isn’t shared by all in the GOP House membership.

“We have fairly unique views in the Republican caucus,” Bentz said.

While a consistently conservative Republican vote, Bentz is not part of the Freedom Caucus. He’s a member of the Main Street Caucus, whose website says “is a group of 70+ pragmatic conservatives who get things done.”

Democrats backing Biden

Oregon’s two Democratic senators — Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley — also are monitoring the debt debate and making plans to return to the Senate chamber if needed.

Merkley has urged Biden to avoid Republican demands by invoking the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to allow spending to surpass the debt ceiling. The amendment includes a clause added in 1868 that says the validity of the federal debt “shall not be questioned.”

Merkley and others have said that invoking the amendment would give Biden the green light to allow spending to continue because the U.S. Constitution requires that the government always guarantees its debt. But the amendment has not been used before and its impact is untested.

Wyden and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, asked the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office last month for an analysis of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, passed under former President Donald Trump.

The budget office said the U.S. could raise an additional $3.5 trillion in revenue if the cuts were terminated now instead of in 2025 when they are set to expire.

Four of six U.S. House members are Democrats. Suzanne Bonamici of Beaverton, Earl Blumenauer of Portland, Andrea Salinas of Tigard, and Val Hoyle of Springfield all voted against the GOP spending plan when it passed the House on a 217-215 vote on April 26.

Any compromise legislation would first face a vote in the House. If approved, it would go to the Senate. The final step would be approval by Biden.