UPDATE: By a vote of 318-97, the House overwhelmingly rejected the bill to unconditionally raise the debt limit on Tuesday evening.
House Republicans are determined to reject a $2.4 trillion unconditional increase in the nation’s debt ceiling in a vote on Tuesday evening, reinforcing their demand for spending cuts to accompany any hike in government borrowing limit.
If the Republican measure HR 1954 passes in the GOP-led House, it would raise the debt limit from the $14.3 trillion that the U.S. government reached on May 16 to $16.7 trillion.
“The blank check debt limit increase supported by President Obama and his fellow Democrats would send our great country into an economic death spiral,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said in a statement. “We cannot continue down this same reckless path of borrowing and spending like there is no tomorrow.”
Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), who introduced the legislation, said in a press release that he introduced the legislation only to “allow the U.S. House of Representatives to reject a so-called clean increase in the nation’s debt.” A $2.4 trillion increase is the amount necessary under President Barack Obama’s budget to get through the end of 2012.
“The ‘borrow now and pay later’ attitude that has prevailed for too long in Washington is threatening the American dream,” Camp said last week in a statement. “We simply aren’t going to continue on that same reckless path any longer.”
But Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the House minority whip, said Republicans are playing politics by introducing a bill that they have no intention to pass.
“If we were adults and acting as adults, we would come together and give certainty to the market that, ‘Of course, America’s going to pay its bills,’ Hoyer said at his weekly press briefing on Tuesday, according to The Hill.
Despite Democrats’ support for raising the debt limit, Hoyer is advising his Democratic colleagues to vote against the increase to not “subject themselves to a political 30-second ad attack.”
“My advice to them would be not to play this political charade,” Hoyer said.
The move, however, has put Democrats in an awkward position. Just in April, 114 of House Democrats—nearly two-third of the caucus—signed a letter asking for a clean debt limit vote.
Hoyer had indicated that he would support an unconditional debit ceiling increase, but he reversed himself when it became obvious that the vote would be purely symbolic and that even if all Democrats voted “yes,” the legislation would not pass with the GOP majority in the way.
The Republicans added the vote to the calendar over the weekend.
After the nation hit its debt limit two weeks ago, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said Congress must raise the debt limit by Aug. 2 or the government will default on either its domestic programs or bonds, which he warned could lead to another economic recession.
Republicans are scheduled to meet with Obama at the White House on Wednesday, signaling hopes for a compromise.
Meanwhile, House Republicans and Democrats are negotiating with their Senate counterparts and the White House over a deficit reduction package which lawmakers on both sides agreed that they are hoping will produce $1 trillion in savings.
