House Republicans on Thursday morning will discuss a short-term debt ceiling hike while keeping government closed as a way to “meet President [Barack] Obama” halfway, according to multiple GOP sources.
The 10 a.m. meeting in the Capitol comes nine days into a government shutdown, and exactly one week before the nation’s borrowing limit must be lifted.
The genesis of this idea comes from Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the Budget Committee chairman. Ryan pitched a short-term debt ceiling hike alongside some spending cuts at a Wednesday Republican Study Committee meeting. The idea is to remove the threat of default, while giving Washington several weeks to cull together a fiscal deal that would fund government, lift the debt ceiling for a longer period of time and enact a number of fiscal reforms.
There’s no sense whether Obama or Senate Democrats would go along with this, since they’ve said government should be re-opened and the debt ceiling must be lifted before fiscal talks begin.
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This comes as Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will warn a Senate commitee about the dangers of a debt default. Lew said failing to raise the debt ceiling will damage the “ongoing economic recovery, and the jobs and savings of millions of Americans.”
“I have a responsibility to be transparent with the American people about these risks,” Lew said, according to prepared testimony to the Senate Finance Committee. “And I think it would be a grave mistake to discount or dismiss them. For these reasons, I have repeatedly urged Congress to take action immediately so we can honor all of the country’s past commitments.”
In those prepared remarks, Lew dismissed the idea of prioritizing payments to avoid default — something some Republicans have favored.
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“As administrations of both political parties have previously determined, these ‘prioritization’ proposals do not solve the problem,” Lew said, according to prepared remarks. “They represent an irresponsible retreat from a core American value: since 1789, regardless of party, Presidents and Congress have always honored all of our commitments.”
House GOP leaders will have the chance to talk about all of this Thursday, when Boehner, Cantor and McCarthy bring top Republicans to the White House for a meeting with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. That meeting will be Thursday afternoon, after Senate Democrats down Pennsylvania Avenue.
GOP meets to mull short-term hike
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