Politics

The Debt-Ceiling War Is Over ... for a Few Weeks

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, viewed as one of the hostage-takers in the upcoming debt ceiling fight, has given in and promised a three-month temporary debt limit increase. 

By Alexander Abad-Santos
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House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, viewed as one of the hostage-takers in the upcoming debt ceiling fight, has given in and promised a three-month temporary debt limit increase. Here's Cantor's promise:

"The first step to fixing this problem is to pass a budget that reduces spending. The House has done so, and will again. The Democratic Senate has not passed a budget in almost four years, which is unfair to hardworking taxpayers who expect more from their representatives. That ends this year.

Next week, we will authorize a three month temporary debt limit increase to give the Senate and House time to pass a budget. Furthermore, if the Senate or House fails to pass a budget in that time, Members of Congress will not be paid by the American people for failing to do their job. No budget, no pay.

Three months in real time puts us at around mid-April for the next debt-ceiling deadline. If, like a college student who promises to get that paper in if they can just have one more extension, that sounds like not much of a delay, you're not alone. In the world of the debt-ceiling and U.S. borrowing authority is more like a few weeks worth of delay since we'll be hitting our debt limit in the next few weeks. "The Treasury Department has said the U.S. will exceed its $16.4 trillion borrowing authority sometime from mid-February to early March," Bloomberg News' Roxana Tiron and James Rowley write today.

That in mind, the big question is how good this extension is. Cantor's move had been hinted at for a while. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan mentioned it on Thursday. "[C]eding the debt limit issue for a few months helps Republicans look 'reasonable' while forcing Democrats to either come to the negotiating table or be left holding the bag on a government shutdown or debt-limit debacle" an anonymous Republican lawmaker told National Journal's Chris Frates this morning, before Cantor's statement went out. Pressuring the Senate while reminding the public that the "Democratic Senate has not passed a budget in almost four years" sounds like Cantor making good on that promise to force Democrats to the negotiating table. 

And how are Democrats taking this and all this pressure? Well, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had the first backhanded compliment of the day and a friendly hostage reminder:

President Obama has echoed Reid's statement—yes, even the "hostage" part, which seems to be the narrative they are pushing: "We are encouraged that there are signs that Congressional Republicans may back off their insistence on holding our economy hostage to extract drastic cuts in Medicare, education and programs middle class families depend on," the president said through his press secretary. 

Here's the President's full statement:

The President has made clear that Congress has only two options: pay the bills they have racked up, or fail to do so and put our nation into default.  We are encouraged that there are signs that Congressional Republicans may back off their insistence on holding our economy hostage to extract drastic cuts in Medicare, education and programs middle class families depend on. Congress must pay its bills and pass a clean debt limit increase without further delay. And as he has said, the President remains committed to further reducing the deficit in a balanced way.

Here's the full statement from Cantor:

It was great to spend time with all the members of our conference and their families. We heard some inspiring stories from some incredible people, like Erik Weihenmayer who was the first blind person to summit Mt. Everest.

We spent a great deal of time discussing how we can help restore a healthy economy and stop piling debt onto our children and grandchildren. It's common sense that we cannot afford to stay on the same borrowing and spending path we are on.

Fitch Ratings agency recently said, if the debt limit is raised without substantive deficit reduction, our nation's credit rating could be downgraded. The President's plan to simply borrow more money without any reform in Washington puts us all at risk.

The first step to fixing this problem is to pass a budget that reduces spending. The House has done so, and will again. The Democratic Senate has not passed a budget in almost four years, which is unfair to hardworking taxpayers who expect more from their representatives. That ends this year.

We must pay our bills and responsibly budget for our future. Next week, we will authorize a three month temporary debt limit increase to give the Senate and House time to pass a budget. Furthermore, if the Senate or House fails to pass a budget in that time, Members of Congress will not be paid by the American people for failing to do their job. No budget, no pay.

This is the first step to get on the right track, reduce our deficit and get focused on creating better living conditions for our families and children. It's time to come together and get to work.

Update, 2:21 p.m.: White House Press Secretary Jay Carney released the following statement:

The President has made clear that Congress has only two options: pay the bills they have racked up, or fail to do so and put our nation into default.  We are encouraged that there are signs that Congressional Republicans may back off their insistence on holding our economy hostage to extract drastic cuts in Medicare, education and programs middle class families depend on. Congress must pay its bills and pass a clean debt limit increase without further delay. And as he has said, the President remains committed to further reducing the deficit in a balanced way.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.