At the House GOP Conference retreat last week, leaders worked with a handful of conservative members to come up with a plan to raise the debt ceiling. From left: Boehner, Cantor and McCarthy met with a working group of five GOP members that endorsed that proposal.
He added, “We’re just going to be there in his face about these things until he’s willing to resolve these issues with us.”
Still, some Republicans questioned whether the proposal to withhold lawmakers’ pay over passage of a budget was even constitutional, given that the 27th Amendment prohibits changes in congressional pay until the beginning of a new Congress.
Democrats did not reject the plan out of hand last week. The White House and Democratic leaders seemed to view the offer as a signal that Republicans were moving away from the brinkmanship that has characterized debates over the debt limit and other fiscal deadlines for the past two years.
“If the House can pass a clean debt ceiling increase to avoid default and allow the United States to meet its existing obligations, we will be happy to consider it,” said Adam Jentleson, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Jentleson added that the scaled-back plan showed “Republicans beginning to back off their threat to hold our economy hostage.”
Notably, a “clean” debt ceiling is not what Republicans are offering, and even moderate members such as Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., are adamant that no such bill could pass the House.
Meanwhile, the president has vowed repeatedly not to negotiate at all over the debt ceiling, and Obama rejected the idea of “doing this on a one-to-three-month time frame” on Jan. 14.
But on Jan. 18, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney did not immediately dismiss the notion of a short-term solution to the debt limit issue.
“The president has made clear that Congress has only two options: pay the bills they have racked up, or fail to do so and put our nation into default,” Carney said. “We are encouraged that there are signs that congressional Republicans may back off their insistence on holding our economy hostage to extract drastic cuts in Medicare, education and programs middle-class families depend on. Congress must pay its bills and pass a clean debt limit increase without further delay. And as he has said, the president remains committed to further reducing the deficit in a balanced way.”
That’s exactly what House Republicans say their goal is, too — even if the two sides have repeatedly clashed about how to do it. In fact, some Republicans said the new arrangement does not mean that they are abandoning the “Boehner rule,” which calls for $1 of spending cuts for every $1 the debt limit is raised.
“It would be missing the point to just look at the short-term debt limit increase as the end-all be-all,” a House Republican aide said.
“Obviously the short-term debt limit increase is a step toward getting a much bigger solution. It is a tactical move. We are on better ground on the sequester and the [continuing resolution]. ... The first step in finding a real, long-term spending solution is for the Senate to engage and pass a budget,” the aide said.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson appears at the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church on M Street Northwest for a pre-rally before a march to the White House to protest what is seen as President Barack Obama's lack of action in addressing a variety of problems in black communities.
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