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WASHINGTON — House Republicans are considering demanding Medicare and other budget savings, reining in the Obama administration's environmental agenda including greenhouse gas restrictions, and other proposals as the price for extending the government's ability to borrow money, GOP lawmakers and aides said Friday. Republicans said that during closed-door discussions this week about what to include in upcoming legislation renewing federal borrowing authority, options have included blocking administration plans to curb coal ash pollution; forcing civil servants to contribute more to their retirement plans; and requiring Congress to approve many major regulations. Republicans said that during closed-door discussions this week about...

President Barack Obama has accused his critics of extorting him over raising the US debt ceiling, as a Republican budget gamble brought the prospect of a government shutdown ever closer. Obama and his Republican foes in Congress are locked into entrenched positions over lifting the $US16.7 trillion ($A17.9 trillion) borrowing cap and a government operating budget. If there is no compromise - an increasingly likely prospect - government operations will grind to a halt on October 1 and the US could default on its debts by the middle of next month, a scenario which could have alarming domestic and international...

President Obama took a swipe at the Hard Right on Monday, accusing tea-party-aligned House Republicans of gambling with the nation's economy by threatening to shut down the government unless Obamacare is defunded. In a sprawling economic speech, Obama called on Congress to avert a government shutdown by passing a budget, and he insisted he would brook no wrangling over a raise in the debt ceiling. Obama said such a shutdown, or even the possibility of default, would damage the still-fragile economic recovery. Specifically, the president went after Republicans who say they won't vote for any budget deal that does not...

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama, in an interview broadcast on Sunday, blamed conservative Republicans for a stalemate on the budget and insisted that while he is willing to haggle over taxes and government spending, he will not make a deal would that would impose conditions on increasing the nation's debt limit. With a possible government shutdown looming in two weeks, and the threat of a U.S. debt default as early as mid-October, Obama said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" that it is up to lawmakers to work out a budget. He insisted the budget should contain enough spending...

Here’s the read among Congressional Dems on this fall’s fiscal fights. At some point, House GOP leaders will have to pass an important bill with a lot of Democratic support — stiff-arming the Tea Party in the process. GOP leaders are trying to defer that moment for as long as possible, but there’s just no clear way around it. Multiple reports this morning tell us House GOP leaders are struggling to round up support among House Republicans for their new strategy for the fall. They are proposing a vote on a measure that would temporarily fund the government at current...

Speaker John A. Boehner said Monday that President Barack Obama is in for a “whale of a fight” over the debt limit, with the GOP leader insisting on spending cuts greater than, not just equal to, the amount the debt ceiling is raised.The Ohio Republican, speaking at a fundraising event for Idaho Republican Mike Simpson, said he has “made it clear that we’re not going to increase the debt limit without cuts and reforms that are greater than the increase in the debt limit,” according to the Idaho Statesman.“The president doesn’t think this is fair, thinks I’m being difficult to...

[To Moderator - the title contained an obscene reference for one to do something physically impossible to oneself.] Mr. Lew, I know you continue to say that the Congress has "no choice" but to raise the debt limit. You're wrong. Congress has the choice to say no. You have a credit card but the limit is set not by your King but rather by Congress. And Congress has the right to cut that card up any time it so chooses. So says the Constitution: Article I Section 8: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts...

Remember, the other day, when President Obama so righteously declared to the young people the audience that “we don’t have an urgent deficit crisis”?CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO We’ll still have to make some modifications when it comes to our long-term entitlement programs so that they’re here for young people here when they’re ready for retirement, but we don’t have an urgent deficit crisis. The only crisis we have is one that’s manufactured in Washington, and it’s ideological. And the basic notion is, is that we shouldn’t be helping people get health care and we shouldn’t be helping kids...

A bill allowing the U.S. government to keep borrowing money for at least a few more months, beyond its record $16.4 trillion debt limit, won final congressional approval on Thursday, clearing the way for President Barack Obama to sign it into law. The Democratic-led Senate passed the bill, 64-34, a week after the Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved it, 285-144. Both votes were bipartisan. The legislation would put off until at least May 19 a showdown over the debt limit between Republicans, who demand more spending cuts to shrink deficits, and Democrats, who favor reducing deficits with a mix of...

House Republicans on Wednesday are hoping to present a united front and jump-start the next several months’ worth of budget negotiations by approving a short-term debt-limit extension with near-unanimous GOP support. Members will vote on a “limited suspension” of the federal debt limit through May 19, which would temporarily allow the Treasury Department to issue new debt to cover obligations incurred during that period, along with a measure that would withhold Senators’ pay if they fail to pass a budget. “All we’re saying is: If the president and the Senate, if this country needs to incur more debt — Senate,...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This afternoon, Sen. Rand Paul introduced the Default Prevention Act, which would require the President to prioritize federal revenue to interest on the national debt. Since the current debt limit was reached on Dec. 31, 2012, it is expected that the extraordinary measures the U.S. Treasury has taken to continue funding the government will be exhausted before March. In order to remove any chance of government default, Sen. Paul’s legislation spells out which government-funded programs should be held at the highest priority to continue funding, while paying down the interest and principal on debt held by the...

A week ago John Boehner insisted he was ready to do battle against Obama and his Democrat allies over the debt limit: “The American people do not support raising the debt ceiling without reducing government spending at the same time,” House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement, according to the Associated Press. “The consequences of failing to increase the debt ceiling are real, but so too are the consequences of allowing our spending problem to go unresolved. “Without meaningful action, the debt will continue to act as an anchor on our economy, costing American jobs and endangering our children’s...

Budget Policy: Even if we don't raise the debt ceiling, enough revenue will still come in to the Treasury to pay our interest, our bonds and essential services. The government will not shut down- only its ability to borrow. Like the fiscal cliff, the dangers of hitting the debt ceiling, while dire, are not necessarily fatal. It would, however, concentrate the minds of the American taxpayer wonderfully and force Washington to do what American families do every day around the kitchen table - take the paycheck and pay the bills in order of priority. Pay the gas company and the...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor says in a statement: Fitch Ratings agency recently said, if the debt limit is raised without substantive deficit reduction, our nation's credit rating could be downgraded. The President's plan to simply borrow more money without any reform in Washington puts us all at risk. The first step to fixing this problem is to pass a budget that reduces spending. The House has done so, and will again. The Democratic Senate has not passed a budget in almost four years, which is unfair to hardworking taxpayers who expect more from their representatives. That ends this year....

A congressional report found that foreign companies have been large beneficiaries of stimulus funds and received billions of dollars funds meant to promote green energy development and create jobs in the United States. The House Energy and Commerce Committee staff examined Treasury Department data and found that nearly one-quarter of the $16 billion in Section 1603 green energy grants went to a handful of large European and Asian renewable energy companies. “Billions of dollars have filled the coffers of overseas firms while the evidence of the promised permanent jobs and economic growth here in the United States is scarce,” reads...

Most Americans think jarring economic problems will erupt if lawmakers fail to increase the government’s borrowing limit. Yet they’re torn over how or even whether to raise it, leaning toward Republican demands that any boost be accompanied by spending cuts. According to an Associated Press-GfK poll, 53 percent say that if the debt limit is not extended and the U.S. defaults, the country will face a major economic crisis. An additional 27 percent say such a crisis would be somewhat likely, while just 17 percent largely dismiss the prospects of such damage. … “The worst thing for the economy is...

One way out the debt ceiling showdown: getting rid of the debt ceiling altogether. A group of House Democrats is introducing legislation Wednesday that would repeal the federal debt limit. Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Jim Moran (D-Va.), Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) are behind the effort. Some of the same lawmakers attempted to repeal the debt limit in 2011. Given Republican control of the House, it is incredibly unlikely that this legislation will pass. The debt limit dates to 1939, and stems from earlier limits on borrowing that were meant to give...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says House Republicans are making a mistake by using the issue of increasing the borrowing limit to challenge President Barack Obama on spending issues. Gingrich tells “CBS This Morning” that’s a losing proposition. “In the end, it’s a threat they can’t sustain,” he says, because no one wants to see the country default on its debts. …

In its monthly statement for December, released Friday, the U.S. Treasury says the federal government balanced its budget during the month, bringing in roughly $270 billion in revenues while making roughly $270 billion in expenditures. Yet, the Treasury also says that during December it increased by $63.079 billion the national debt subject to the statutory legal limit set by Congress, thus dramatically bringing the debt to the legal limit on Dec. 31, just as Congress and the White House were involved in final negotiations on a deal to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff”—which would have canceled all of the lower...

The next debt ceiling battle could come as soon as mid-February, when the federal government looks to hit its borrowing limit, a new report says. “Based on financial data from Treasury, we estimate that the government will be unable to pay all of its bills as early as February 15, also known as the X Date” said Steve Bell, senior director of the Economic Policy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center, in a statement. The Bipartisan Policy Center announced the findings of the organization’s study on Monday. According to a release from the Center, their analysis indicates that “the federal...