–House Speaker’s Plan Would Hike Debt Ceiling By $1T, $1.6T Increments
–Plan Requires Votes On Balanced Budget Amendment
–Plan Would Require $3 Trillion of Spending Cuts
By John Shaw
WASHINGTON (MNI) – House Speaker John Boehner will brief House
Republicans in the next hour on his revised debt ceiling plan, which
would raise the debt ceiling by $1 trillion this year and $1.6 trillion
next year.
According to a Boehner staffer, passing the initial $1 trillion
debt ceiling increase would require Congress to pass $1.2 trillion in
spending cuts through imposing caps on discretionary spending.
Approval of the second tranche of $1.6 trillion would require
passage of $1.8 trillion in spending cuts in entitlement programs.
Under Boehner’s plan, the House and Senate would also have to vote
on a balanced budget constitutional amendment between this October and
the end of the year.
Boehner will present this plan to House Republicans shortly. House
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is meeting with her caucus early Monday
evening.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is set to unveil his plan later
Monday. Reid has said it will call for a $2.4 trillion increase in the
statutory debt ceiling with $2.7 trillion in spending offsets.
Reid is likely to propose securing more than $1 trillion from
unspecified savings in discretionary programs and claiming large savings
from the winding down of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. These savings
have also been used in Republican budget plans but the GOP has also
urged substantial savings in entitlement programs.
The U.S. has already reached its $14.29 trillion debt ceiling.
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has said that Congress must pass
legislation increasing the debt ceiling by August 2.
** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **
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