GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "NewsHour."

The U.S. House is set to vote on a debt ceiling deal tonight, after Republicans got some help from Democrats to pass a crucial hurdle.

The vote follows weeks of heated negotiations and criticism from the right and the left.

Lisa Desjardins has been tracking it all on Capitol Hill and joins us now.

So, Lisa, there has been lots of action on the House floor already today.

Bring us up to speed on what happened.

LISA DESJARDINS: Geoff, you know, as many people know, the delivery process can be complicated in some instances, and that is the situation here now.

This was a critical moment in the lifespan of this debt bill.

It had to get past a hurdle, allowing it to even come up for debate on the House floor.

Usually, what happens is, the party in charge decides which bills come to the floor, and they all vote to make that happen.

But as we have been talking about, there were two dozen-plus Republicans who oppose this bill and wanted to block it.

So what happened?

A slew of Democrats in the middle of the vote changed their vote, 50-plus of them, in order to help this debt deal continue to move forward.

It was a bit of quick drama.

But the Democrats said: We needed to do this.

We felt like this is too important for our country.

Now, what this all shows, what happened today, is that, number one, this is a very high-wire act that both parties are trying to conduct here.

And, number two, it is in fact bipartisan, that this bill moving through, its survival depends on both parties.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, we are a short time away from the big test, which is the House vote on the bill itself.

Are the votes there right now, Lisa?

LISA DESJARDINS: I'm looking at my watch and looking at my phone as House members get back to me.

I have been checking in all day with folks who were undecided yesterday and this morning.

And I will say, in just the last hour, several of them, one Republican and two Democrats, have said they are now voting yes for this bill.

That seems to be the way the moment some has gone over the past day.

It hasn't been easy for either side.

And we do think that this vote will matter, especially -- even if it passes, as it is expected to do, for Kevin McCarthy's leadership.

We will be counting how many Republicans vote yes.

He needs a clear majority of his conference, or else his job could be at stake as well.

GEOFF BENNETT: Remind us of the major issues here, Lisa, the concerns that Republicans and Democrats have about how this bill will affect everyday Americans.

LISA DESJARDINS: That's right.

I think one thing about this is that -- first, that the reason so many people are undecided is because they are thinking about those stakes.

I want to first play the sound of two sort of the leaders of both sides showing how bipartisan this was, or sort of neither side is exactly ecstatic about this, but both are saying that they have to move forward.

Here's what we heard on the floor today.

REP. TOM COLE (R-OK): It is not a perfect bill, but it does represent a compromise between the administration and Congress that's necessary in divided government.

Nobody got everything they wanted.

But the end result is a truly historic bill.

REP. KATHERINE CLARK (D-MA): There is no perfect negotiation when you are the victims of extortion.

Nobody likes to pay a ransom note.

And that's exactly what tonight's vote is, our payment on the ransom of the American people.

LISA DESJARDINS: And what's interesting is, of course, those are two leaders who are both in support of this bill.

To your question, what's at stake here, why are there still undecided votes, let's go over this again.

It's so important.

At stake in this bill, first and foremost, two years of federal spending.

That is trillions of dollars that will affect most every aspect of American life.

Food benefits, food stamps, the SNAP benefit for hundreds of thousands of people, the way the benefit is changing will mean some thousands of people lose the benefit and thousands of others will receive it.

Now, there's also major energy projects that are at stake in this bill, because permitting would potentially move more quickly.

On the other end, there are those on the left who say that there's a problem there because the extent of environmental reviews for those huge projects would be much more shallow.

And they're worried about the environmental impact.

So, you take all that together, Geoff, and you really have especially misgivings from some Democrats, worried about the environment and worried about this food stamp programs.

Pramila Jayapal, the head of the Progressive Caucus, for that reason said she's a no-vote on this bill.

And I want to talk about one other Democrat, Jahana Hayes of Connecticut.

She's a former national schoolteacher of the year.

Had a very powerful moment with her today, when she said: Listen, I'm thinking about my constituents who might lose their food stamp benefits.

I'm thinking of especially older women.

She thinks older women of color, she said: They don't have any lobbyists.

They only have me.

So, a very emotional vote for some of these members.

GEOFF BENNETT: So as we're tracking what's happening in the House, the Senate has to act quickly on this as well in order to meet the deadline.

What's the state of play in the Upper Chamber?

LISA DESJARDINS: It does feel like the votes are there in the Senate as well.

The divide, Republicans and Democrats, still has to shake out.

The question their, Geoff, as always, is the timing.

The Senate does not move quickly, but they don't have a lot of time.

Over the next couple of days, we will see if this vote will move quickly, perhaps as soon as Friday for a final vote, or it may take several days past that.

We could get close to the deadline.

We're going to have to watch that very carefully.

GEOFF BENNETT: A very busy Lisa Desjardins covering it all for us tonight on Capitol Hill.

Lisa, thanks so much.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.