Republican leaders struggle to find votes to up debt limit
WASHINGTON
(AP) — Congressional Republicans say they are short of the necessary
votes for raising the debt limit and avoiding a first-ever government
default. With barely a week before deadline, there's no plan on what to
do.
Associated Press
Sun, Oct 25, 2015, 10:53pm EDT - US Markets are closed
Republican leaders struggle to find votes to up debt limit
By ANDREW TAYLOR
October 24, 2015 3:30 AM
GOP leaders promised Friday that the House will act next week — just days from a Nov. 3 deadline. Increasing the government's $18.1 trillion borrowing cap so that it can continue to pay its bills in full and on time would prevent a potential meltdown in the financial markets and save the Republican Party from presiding over a default on U.S. obligations.
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has warned lawmakers that the government's ability to use accounting steps to pay its bills for veterans, Social Security recipients, federal employees and others will run out early next month.
"The debt limit will have to be raised, but we've got to do something to deal with it for the future," said Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. "We've got a lot of ideas cooking."
But in the same breath, House GOP leaders warn that they can't summon even minimal support for the kind of debt limit increase demanded by President Barack Obama — one that's free of any concessions to hardline conservatives. They are still holding out hope for some kind of add-on to make the politically toxic vote more palatable.
Too bad, say Democrats, who point out that Congress passed a debt-limit increase just last year without add-ons. And all but two of 188 House Democrats have promised to vote for the measure, which means it would only take just 32 out of 247 Republicans to produce a winning vote of the full House.
Top House Democrats scoff when told that GOP leaders say they might not be able to even deliver that minimal number.
"Then they ought to all be fired," said Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 House Democrat. "It is inconceivable to me that there aren't 30-plus Republicans to vote to make sure their country is solvent."
The White House on Friday reiterated that Obama will not negotiate with the GOP on the debt limit. "This is asking the Congress to pay bills that it's already incurred," said spokesman Eric Schultz.
An actual default — which would occur if the government can't pay bills like a $14 billion tab for Social Security benefits on time — wouldn't come for another week or so beyond the Nov. 3 target, according to calculations by the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington think tank.
The debt limit fight is
the latest in a long saga. For years, the party in control of Congress
had to deliver many of the votes to pass debt increases, whether or not
it controlled the White House. The debt limit was often added to other
legislation but was not taken hostage in hopes of extracting concessions
from an opposition president.
But
after tea-party conservatives came to dominate the House in 2011,
Boehner, R-Ohio, demanded and won $2.1 trillion in spending cuts in
exchange for a comparable increase in the debt cap.
That was
before Obama was re-elected. Since then, the president and his
Democratic allies have been adamant that the legislation won't be taken
hostage by Republicans demanding concessions. Last February, Boehner and
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky eased a debt increase
through Congress by relying on almost unanimous Democratic support.Republican gains in last fall's midterm elections, along with a handful of retirements of leadership allies who voted to raise the borrowing cap last winter, mean that Boehner and McConnell need to find additional GOP votes to raise the cap.
And
the politics inside the Republican Party on the debt limit have only
gotten messier. Boehner is resigning next week after pressure from tea
party forces, in part because he regularly turned to Democrats to get
must-pass legislation like last year's debt limit increase through the
chamber.
"I believe they truly don't have the votes. It is not
just a negotiating posture," said David Schnittger, a former longtime
Boehner aide. "It's something nobody wants to vote for."
Only
28 House Republicans voted with virtually every Democrat last year to
boost the debt ceiling; 19 of those lawmakers remain in Congress.
Because of GOP electoral gains, Boehner would have to come up with a
dozen or more additional Republicans to pass a "clean" debt limit
measure with nearly all of the chamber's Democrats.
McCarthy
recently told reporters — "I do not see 218 for any clean (debt limit)
bill," referring to the number of votes needed to pass legislation
through the 435-member House.
However,
some GOP lawmakers are open to supporting the debt measure despite
opposing it last time, among them Reps. Ed Whitfield of Kentucky, Mike
Simpson of Idaho and Mike Coffman of Colorado.
"It
is the responsibility of the majority to do it," Simpson said, adding
that he'd probably switch his vote from last year, cast as he faced a
tea party challenger in his primary race.
"If it had to have my vote, yeah," Coffman said. "The fact is we have to get it done."
___
AP Congressional Correspondent Erica Werner contributed to this report.end quote from:
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