Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., offered a new plan to allow the president to demand up to $2.4 trillion in new borrowing authority by the summer of next year in three separate submissions. Those increases in the so-called debt limit would automatically take effect unless both the Republican House and the Democratic Senate enact legislation specifically disapproving it.
Obama would be able to veto such legislation. The GOP plan would require that Obama submit spending cuts along with his borrowing requests. But unlike the increase in the debt limit, they wouldn't automatically take effect. The new mechanism would take the place of the White House debt negotiations between congressional leaders and Obama. Those talks over spending cuts and tax increases have grown increasingly acrimonious. McConnell offered the plan just a couple of hours before he was scheduled to go to the White House for the third round of budget talks in as many days. The two sides were increasingly at odds over Democratic demands for revenue increases to accompany the $4 trillion-plus in spending cuts demanded by Republicans as the price for maintaining the government's ability to borrow to meet its obligations. McConnell said he reluctantly offered the unusual proposal because it has become clear the negotiations with Obama aren't going anywhere. "I had hoped all year long that the opportunity presented by his request of us to raises the debt ceiling would generate a bipartisan agreement that would begin to get our house in order," McConnell said. "I still hope it will. But we're certainly not going to send a signal to the markets and the American people that default is an option." Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and other market experts have issued dire warnings of the effect a potential default would have on the still-struggling economy, including a downgrade in the government's AAA bond rating, higher interest rates and panic in the markets. Obama himself warned in a CBS News interview that he couldn't guarantee that Social Security payments would go out as scheduled on Aug. 3. An aide to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Boehner shares McConnell's concerns about the lack of progress in the talks. A spokesman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said Cantor feels that the McConnell proposal could be helpful. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he had spoken briefly to McConnell about the idea and said he would consider it. The sweeping new power would only be in effect through the remainder of Obama's term. McConnell's plan would permit an immediate increase in the debt limit of $100 billion while Congress debates whether to disapprove of it. -------- Associated Press writers Ben Feller, Julie Pace and Erica Werner contributed to this report.McConnell: Give Obama new powers on debt limit
WASHINGTON
