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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...

Speaker Boehner has announced he won't negotiate one on one with the president anymore. Obama has said repeatedly that he won't negotiate on raising the debt limit. The two sides are speeding toward each other waiting for the other guy to blink. ABC News: President Obama was pretty clear late on New Year's night as he reacted to Congress's passage of a bill to take a turn away from the fiscal cliff. He won't negotiate with Republicans about the debt ceiling. "Now, one last point I want to make," said the president, before wrapping up and hopping on Air Force...

This is a guest post by Senator Ima Librul (D., Utopia) on the fine art of growing pineapples. I am a Librul and justly proud of the great good we are doing for the entire World. This is my creed: it is irresponsible to be concerned about the future when our own leaders and our other experts tell us that only good things will happen if we do exactly as they say. The brightest and best, we are never wrong! Don't think. Don't question. Just follow our Dear Leader. My small garden had thirty pineapple plants. Twenty of them had...

It's official: U.S. debt will reach its legal borrowing limit on Monday, giving Congress about two months before it must raise the debt ceiling or risk causing the government to default on its bills and financial obligations. "I can confirm we will reach the statutory debt limit today, Dec. 31," a Treasury Department official said.

Despite Democrats' intransigent, no-way-no-how screeching about John Boehner's "Plan B," House Republican leaders are pressing forward with the option behind the scenes.  Those efforts received an important boost today when Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform released a statement affirming that the potential plan would not violate the group's oft-cited tax pledge:   ATR has consistently maintained that individual Members of Congress make a pledge to their constituents to oppose and vote against tax increases. The House this week will vote on a tax bill. This legislation—popularly known as “Plan B”--permanently prevents a tax increase on families making less than $1...

Welcome to Zimbabwe.  This is not a parody -- it is an actual report from the Washington Post:   Some economists and legal scholars have suggested that the “platinum coin option” is one way to defuse a crisis if Congress can’t or won’t lift the debt ceiling soon. At least in theory. The U.S. government is, after all, facing a real problem. The Treasury Department will hit its $16.4 trillion borrowing limit by next February at the latest. Unless Congress reaches an agreement to raise that borrowing limit, the government will no longer be able to borrow enough money...

<p>Fiscal Policy: The president tells business leaders he wants to do away with Congress when it comes to raising the country's legal debt limit and be able to do it all by himself.</p> <p>It was on display again Wednesday, when President Obama told CEOs at the Business Roundtable he is no longer playing the debt ceiling "game" of agreeing to raise the limit in exchange for administration concessions on spending and taxes.</p>

The House Democratic leadership said Wednesday that the debt ceiling “ought not be a negotiating item” in Congress, thereby ceding their constitutional authority to borrow money to President Barack Obama. “The debt limit ought not to be held hostage to anything,” said Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) during a press conference on Capitol Hill. “It hurt our economy. We were downgraded for the first time in my career, and I think in history, by one of the rating agencies. The creditworthiness of America ought not to be put at risk,” he said. “It ought not to be a negotiating item.”...

House Speaker John Boehner lashed out Friday at President Barack Obama, saying negotiations to avoid the "fiscal cliff" are "almost nowhere." Boehner spoke after Republicans disclosed that the White House was $1.6 trillion in tax increases up front, as well as $50 billion in additional stimulus spending. (Read More: Speaker Boehner Discusses 'Fiscal Cliff.') Boehner said the plan would be a "crippling blow" to an economy that is still struggling to find its footing. "There's a stalemate. Let's not kid ourselves," the Ohio Republican told reporters. "Right now, we're almost nowhere," Even so, he added, he was determined to continue...

Video at link (CNSNews.com) - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said on Friday that Congress should hand over to President Barack Obama personal, unilateral authority to increase the limit on the U.S. government's debt. At a Friday press conference, a reporter asked Pelosi if she agreed with a proposal made by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that Congress give Obama the power to unilaterally increase the debt limit. "Yes," she said. When he met with members of Congress on Thursday to discuss a deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff that is set to occur at the end of this year,...