Guess what? The midterms are coming.
Washington (AFP) – House Republicans said Tuesday they will introduce a measure this week to extend US borrowing authority with no conditions attached, marking a clear victory for President Barack Obama.
House Speaker John Boehner said he will now seek to pass a clean debt ceiling hike with help from most Democrats in the chamber, admitting it was “disappointing” that the party leadership did not have the votes to pass the measure with an attached provision reworking military pension benefits.
“This is a lost opportunity,” Boehner told reporters after a closed-door meeting with his caucus.
“We could have sat down and worked together in a bipartisan manner to find cuts and reforms that are greater than the increase in the debt limit.”
US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew warned last week that the country would exhaust its borrowing authority by February 7, and that it could use extraordinary measures only until February 27 before the debt ceiling would need to rise or government would risk not being able to pay all its bills.
The White House has insisted for weeks that raising the debt ceiling was non-negotiable, and it did not want to see policy riders attached to the measure.
