WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans seem to be rallying behind Speaker John Boehner’s plan for lifting the U.S. borrowing cap.
Several Republicans said they were warming to Boehner’s plan for linking about $1 trillion in budget cuts as the price for raising the debt limit — even though they would like to cut further.
Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers said “we’re moving in his direction in a big way today” as he left a closed-door House meeting.
Democrats are likely to oppose Boehner’s plan since it wouldn’t lift the borrowing cap enough to avoid another vote before next year’s elections. The Ohio Republican can only afford about two dozen GOP defections on Thursday’s vote.
Meantime Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the Republican plan to raise the debt limit is so weak it won’t survive the House but Republican Mitch McConnell says it’s the only option left that would avoid default without raising taxes.
The bill, proposed by House Speaker John Boehner, is being rewritten to achieve the savings that Republicans have promised. The Congressional Budget Office said late Tuesday that Boehner’s plan would fall short of the GOP’s goal, and the Ohio Republican postponed a vote on it.
Opening Wednesday’s Senate session, Reid said that even if Boehner’s bill eventually passes, it would not survive the Senate and President Barack Obama would not sign it.
Congress is racing to raise the nation’s debt ceiling by Aug. 2nd and avoid a first-ever default on U.S. obligations. Republicans are demanding massive spending cuts, but even with those, some in the House GOP say they would not vote to raise the borrowing limit.
Meantime Senate Republican leader McConnell credited Boehner with proposing a plan and revising it after the Congressional Budget Office said it would not save as much taxpayer money as Republicans had predicted. The Kentucky Republican said the plan would remain the only one that could resolve the crisis before the deadline without “budget gimmicks.”
The White House has threatened a presidential veto of Boehner’s proposal in the event it was passed by Congress.