House sets vote on debt, to focus on budget talks with White House

By Paul Kane,
WashPost
Published: May 30

Setting the stage for a long summer of heated negotiations, the House is expected to reject a proposal Tuesday that would increase the nation’s ability to borrow money without also making major cuts in federal spending.

A day before they huddle with President Obama at the White House, Republicans will vote on the administration’s initial request that the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling be lifted without any accompanying spending reductions. Both sides now recognize that such a request is politically impossible, given the electorate’s disapproval of runaway federal deficits.

GOP House leaders timed the vote Tuesday night to demonstrate that point before all 241 members of the Republican conference visit Obama on Wednesday. It will be his first meeting with the entire group since the party won the House majority in the November midterm elections.

For months, each side’s leaders have talked about how the financial markets would react if the U.S. Treasury were unable to raise the debt limit, with speculation that the country would default on its loans and cause broad panic in the global markets. Republican leaders think they have created a buffer by showing their intentions and holding the vote a full two months before the Aug. 2 deadline Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner set for increasing the debt limit.

(More here.)