The Hill News

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, joined Senate Democrats in questioning whether there was enough time to implement the so-called "Gang of Six" deficit reduction plan and suggested a short-term debt limit increase may be an option.

"Senator Durbin, a member of the Gang of Six said yesterday, they don’t have legislative language and it hasn’t been scored by CBO," said Van Hollen Wednesday on MSNBC.  "And so the question is, you know, what can be done between now and August 2nd, if anything with the plan or do we need to continue to proceed with a back-up plan, Plan B?"

He said there might have to be some kind of short term extension of the debt ceiling while legislators processed this plan.

"We would have to work out some interim arrangement if we were to proceed down that road. Again, exactly what the time line would be and that question would remain to be seen," said Van Hollen.

! The Treasury Department projects the economy will default unless the debt ceiling is increased by Aug. 2.

But despite the time constaints, Van Hollen was positive about the Gang of Six proposal.

"The overall framework mirrors what the President was trying to do and in some ways what the Speaker of the House was apparently trying to do, which is to get a big deal in a balanced way. So, that’s the good news." Van Hollen said.

"This provides some additional momentum to the idea of getting something big done. Again, haven’t seen every detail and I’m not sure that I would agree with every detail, but the overall concept takes us in the right direction," Van Hollen added.

Watch Van Hollen below: