WASHINGTON — The Senate is working to pass the debt ceiling deal negotiated by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy by the end of the week.

    There is an effort underway to pass the bill as soon as Thursday night, multiple sources said, but it could push into Friday.

Senate Republicans, some of whom oppose the bill, exited a lunch Thursday afternoon optimistic that a deal would soon be struck to pass the debt ceiling legislation and send it to Biden's desk for his signature later in the day.

    Biden needs to sign the debt ceiling bill into law by Monday to avoid a U.S. default, according to the Treasury Department.

    All 100 senators will need to agree to speed up consideration of the measure and the amendment votes are meant to get the whole chamber on board. If any one senator objects, the final vote could be pushed as late as Wednesday, June 7, two days past the deadline.

    In addition to seeking amendment votes, Republicans are asking Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to commit to bringing up all 12 government spending bills this year, to avoid an across-the-board spending cut included in the debt ceiling bill. They also want a commitment to bring up supplemental funding legislation to increase defense spending and assist Ukraine in the fight against Russia.

    An increase in defense spending on its own is unlikely to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate.

    The new optimism about completing their work Thursday night came after Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., was seen shuttling between the Republicans’ lunch and the Senate floor, where Democrats were huddling. Sinema at one point pulled Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., into a room just off the Senate floor to look over a piece of paper she had. Collins left the Republican lunch saying “negotiations are in a delicate state,” but that “they’re moving in the right direction.”

    Republicans left their lunch saying that they expect Schumer to make those assurances publicly on the Senate floor later Thursday.

    Schumer opened the Senate floor Thursday morning urging quick passage of the bill.

    “Time is a luxury the Senate does not have if we want to prevent default. June 5th is less than four days away,” Schumer said, adding that the Senate will stay in session until the bill has passed.

    Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who called the debt ceiling bill a "deal from hell," has said he'll file multiple amendments, but that he wouldn't hold up the deal "for the sake of holding it up." 

    “If they’ll allow us to get votes on our amendments, I see no reason to hold it up," Lee said Wednesday.

    Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., will also try to get an amendment to remove a provision in the deal that would expedite the approval of a natural gas pipeline backed by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. 

    Kaine got into what he called a "robust debate" with Manchin over the provision at a Senate lunch Wednesday and expressed outrage that the White House didn't give him a head's up that it would be included in the debt ceiling deal.

    “It’s slimy,” Kaine said. “It didn’t have to go on the debt ceiling bill. I mean, for God’s sake, does this company really feel like they’re as important as the creditworthiness of the United States?”

    The amendments are not expected to pass, as that would send the whole debt ceiling bill back to the House with little time left to avoid a default.

    “At this point, any needless delay or any last-minute holdups would be an unnecessary and even dangerous risk," Schumer warned Thursday. "And any change to this bill that forces us to send it back to the House would be entirely unacceptable. It would almost guarantee default.”