House suspends debt ceiling debate, adds ‘no budget, no pay’ clause
Republicans retreated on their previous demand that any debt limit increase be paired with equal spending cuts.
photo Kmccoy
House Speaker John Boehner said the GOP will continue to push its budget plan, which he claims could balance the budget in 10 years.
The House overwhelmingly passed a bill Wednesday to permit the government to borrow enough money to avoid a first-time default for at least four months, defusing a looming crisis setting up a springtime debate over taxes, spending and the deficit.
The House passed the measure on a bipartisan 285-144 vote as majority Republicans back away from their previous demand that any increase in the government’s borrowing cap be paired with an equivalent level of spending cuts.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the chamber would immediately move to advance the legislation to the White House, which has announced Obama would sign it.
White House press secretary Jay Carney said, “clearly, we support extension of the debt ceiling without drama or delay.”
The measure would suspend the $16.4 trillion cap on federal borrowing and reset it on May 19 to reflect the additional borrowing required between the date the bill becomes law and then. The amount of borrowing required depends on the tax receipts received during filing season, but over a comparable period last year the government ran deficits in the range of $150 billion.
The bill also contains a provision that targets the US Senate, which hasn’t debated a budget since 2009, by withholding the pay for either House or Senate members if the chamber in which they serve fails to pass a budget plan.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., announced Wednesday that the chamber would indeed debate a budget this year but maintained the GOP’s “no budget, no pay” move had nothing to do with the decision.
