The Hill News

No real progress has been made in the discussions on a debt-ceiling compromise, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer said Thursday.

"I'm not optimistic from the standpoint there's really been no substantive progress made yet," Hoyer said in an interview with CNBC.

Other lawmakers have expressed optimism that the bipartisan talks being led by Vice President Biden are progressing toward a deal on raising the debt ceiling. Lawmakers are working to craft a compromise before Aug. 2, when the U.S. will reach its borrowing limit, according to the Treasury Department.

Hoyer said this week that Republicans played a "game" with the debt ceiling by holding a vote on an unconditional debt-ceiling increase. That vote failed, with all Republicans and 82 Democrats voting against it.

"Unfortunately this week we played a game," Hoyer said. "We played a game with the Republicans on the debt limit knowing full well that it must be extended and it w! ould be catastrophic if we didn't have put on a piece of legislation designed to fail. In fact, every Republican voted against it. I decided not to play the game with them."

That vote was meant to put House Democrats in an uncomfortable position since 114 members signed a letter calling on Republicans to bring a "clean" debt ceiling increase up for a vote. Many of the Democrats who signed that letter switched their position when it became obvious that the bill would fail. Republicans want any increase in the debt ceiling to be paired with fiscal reforms.

Hoyer's comments came one day after House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he wanted to see a deal struck on the debt limit some time in June. Boehner said a deal “needs to be done over the next month."

Hoyer said he was happy that Boehner had called for a speedy resolution to the talks.