House Speaker John Boehner said on Thursday morning that the GOP will offer a temporary increase in the $16.7 trillion debt limit—without any strings attached—in return for negotiations over the federal budget. 
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) walks through Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol, October 9, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
America may still have a debt-limit disaster on its hands. But it’s looking like it will at least be delayed.
House Speaker John Boehner said on Thursday morning that the GOP will offer a temporary increase in the $16.7 trillion debt limit—without any strings attached—in return for negotiations over the federal budget.
The Ohio Republican blamed President Obama and the Democrats for the current fiscal crisis, arguing it was them that were unwilling to come to the bargaining table. “I would hope that the president would look at this as an opportunity and a good faith effort on our part to move halfway…in order for these conversations to begin.”
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor described the extension, expected to last about about six weeks, as an exchange for “a real commitment by this president …to sit down and talk about the pressing problems facing the American people.”
The House GOP leadership is expected to take the plan to the White House Thursday afternoon to open negotiations with President Obama. Though the bill offers a six-week debt ceiling increase, it does not include terms on reopening the government. Senate Democrats are wary of the proposal, NBC News reports, and are waiting until their own meeting with the president Thursday to evaluate the measures.
The House leadership’s remarks come on Day 10 of the shutdown and just seven days from the country entering into default unless Congress can agree to a debt ceiling increase. The president has said that he was willing to negotiate with the GOP, but that the government must reopen first. Obama has called for a debt-limit increase without any conditions, but GOP leaders had previously refused to budge unless specific spending reductions are put in play in exchange for a debt-limit hike.
The shutdown is a result of Republican who are quixotically rallying around a plan to delay or defund Obamacare. It is unclear how the proposal would affect the shutdown.
The White House responded to the proposal saying the president “will not pay a ransom for Congress doing its job and paying our bills.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has introduced legislation in the Senate that would raise the debt ceiling through the end of 2014.
“It is better for economic certainty for Congress to take the threat of default off the table for as long as possible, which is why we support the Senate Democrats’ efforts to raise the debt limit for a year with no extraneous political strings attached,” according to a White House official.. “…While we are willing to look at any proposal Congress puts forward to end these manufactured crises, we will not allow a faction of the Republicans in the House to hold the economy hostage to its extraneous and extreme political demands. Congress needs to pass a clean debt limit increase and a funding bill to reopen the government.
When asked what’s to prevent the country from being in the exact same position in a few weeks from now, Boehner acknowledged that is a possibility. “We don’t want to be there…[but] we’ve got to sit down and have a conversation.”