Republicans offer ‘short term’ US debt cap raise

Washington: Republican leaders of the US House of Representatives proposed a short-term increase in the debt ceiling that would continue the government shutdown and reduce the prospects for a US default while extending the partisan fiscal fight.

President Barack Obama would likely sign a debt-ceiling increase without policy conditions, Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said on Thursday. He said administration officials haven’t seen details of the proposal.

add_main_image“The president is happy that cooler heads at least seem to be prevailing in the House, that there at least seems to be a recognition that default is not an option,” Carney said.

House speaker John Boehner’s plan would push off the lapse in US borrowing authority through 22 November, said Michael Steel, his spokesman. Republicans want to engage Obama in negotiations over ending the shutdown, which began on 1 October after Republicans insisted on changes to the 2010 health-care law.NextMAds

“It’s time for leadership,” Boehner, an Ohio Republican, told reporters in the Capitol on Thursday. “It’s time for these negotiations and this conversation to begin.”

The plan, which House Republicans will discuss with Obama at the White House later on Thursday, marks the first sign that the parties may be able to resolve the impasse without the catastrophic economic consequences that the treasury department said would stem from a default.

Obama has insisted that he will negotiate on broader fiscal and health-care issues only after a debt-limit increase is passed and the shutdown ends.

‘Continued harm’

Carney wouldn’t say whether Obama would endorse the House proposal because he hasn’t the specifics of it yet and because it’s not clear what will pass the House. Additionally, Carney said, Republicans should stop doing continued harm to the American economy and end the shutdown.

The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index rose 1.7% at 12.11pm in New York on optimism among some traders that a deal is closer. Rates on treasury bills due on 17 October dropped for the first time in six days, declining 10 basis points to 0.38% at 12.36pm New York time, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader prices.sixthMAds

The benchmark 10-year yield rose five basis points, or 0.05 percentage point, to 2.71%, after touching 2.72%, the highest level since 23 September.

‘Olive branch’

Representative Dennis Ross, a Florida Republican, called the plan an olive branch designed to elicit a counteroffer from Obama.

“We’re not going to default,” he said. “Now help us reopen the government and give us something to consider in that regard,” Ross said. “Hopefully he will.”

Under the plan, the treasury department wouldn’t be able to use so-called extraordinary measures to further extend borrowing authority, creating a hard deadline, said Representative Tom Reed, a New York Republican.

A vote is possible tomorrow or 12 October, said Representative Vern Buchanan of Florida.

Many Republicans want to tie the debt-limit increase to party priorities such as cuts in entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare. Still to be determined is whether rank-and-file members will agree to the leadership’s proposal.

Republicans have a 232-200 majority and can lose votes from only 15 members before they need to rely on Democrats.

If the US fails to raise the debt limit by 17 October, the government will have $30 billion plus incoming revenue to pay its bills. It would start missing scheduled payments, including benefits, salaries and interest, between 22 October and 31 October, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Stressing markets

US treasury secretary Jacob J. Lew warned Congress on Thursday that uncertainty over the debt limit is starting to stress financial markets.

“Trying to time a debt-limit increase to the last minute could be very dangerous,” Lew told the Senate Finance Committee. “If Congress does not act and the US suddenly cannot pay its bills, the repercussions would be serious.”

Senate Democrats will meet with Obama later on Thursday. Senate Republicans will go to the White House at 11.15am on Friday.

Senate Democrats are taking a wait and see approach to Boehner’s latest proposal, said a Senate Democratic aide who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss party strategy. While Democrats are open to a short-term debt limit increase as a last-minute solution, they prefer their proposal, the aide said.

Whether Senate Democrats could accept Boehner’s proposal would hinge largely on the details of the budget framework it would set up, the aide said, adding that Democrats were concerned that the proposal might dictate that talks occur before the government is re-opened.

Paying bills

Representative John Larson, a Connecticut Democrat, said his party would be open to Boehner’s idea if it’s the only way the speaker can get something moving.

“It’s hard to comment on a civil war when you’re watching it in front of you and you’re watching them self destruct,” he said in an interview. “We prefer both to reopen government and to not default on the debt.”

Senator Mike Crapo, an Idaho Republican, said his support for the latest House proposal would hinge on whether it would set up budget talks that would require a floor vote in both chambers in Congress on whatever comes out of it.

‘Be back’

“A process just to say, ‘We’ll sit down and talk’ is not going to really result in much in my opinion,” Crapo said in an interview at the Capitol. “I think it means in six weeks, we’ll be back where we are right now.”

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats will press ahead with their preferred plan, which would push the next debt-limit fight into 2015 and include no policy conditions.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid is confident he can muster the needed 60 votes to advance the bill in an initial 12 October test vote, said a Senate Democratic aide.

Reid must gain support from at least six Republicans. One way to do that would be to promise votes on Republican-backed amendments that Democrats could defeat, the aide said. A second vote with a 60-vote threshold would be required.

The shutdown and debt-limit debate have hurt Republicans’ standing with voters, according to a Gallup poll released on Wednesday. It found that 28% of Americans view the party favorably, down 10 percentage points since September and at the lowest point since Gallup began asking the question in 1992.

Senate leaders

Democrats, who control 54 seats in the 100-member Senate, would need the support of at least six Republicans on procedural votes to pass their bill.

The bill from Reid would suspend the debt ceiling through 31 December 2014. Because the treasury department can use what are called extraordinary measures to stave off default, another increase wouldn’t be needed until sometime in 2015. The previous debt-limit suspension expired on 18 May and the extraordinary measures are lasting five months.

The government shutdown started 1 October after Republicans insisted that further funding for many programs must be tied to a one-year delay in the mandate that individuals who lack health insurance purchase it.

Obama and Senate Democrats refused, and the resulting furloughs and agency shutdowns have slowed mortgage closings, small-business loans and nutrition assistance to poor mothers. Some programs, such as Social Security, continue uninterrupted.

Many federal workers will receive a partial paycheck tomorrow that includes compensation for the final days of September.

The House has taken a series of bipartisan votes to fund narrow pieces of the government, including the Food and Drug Administration and military death benefits. The House is now scheduled to be in session on Saturday, 12 October.

Obama and Senate Democrats reject the piecemeal approach, saying Republicans shouldn’t pick and choose politically popular items. The Senate passed the death benefits bill on a voice vote on Thursday. Bloomberg

Michelle Jamrisko, Kathleen Hunter, Kasia Klimasinska, Mike Dorning, Phil Mattingly and Michael C. Bender in Washington and Susanne Walker in New York contributed to this story.