House schedules vote on raising the debt limit
Republican leaders in the House have scheduled a vote to raise the national debt limit next week, expecting the bill to fail and prove to Democrats that the measure must be accompanied by plans for deficit reduction.
The U.S. government hit its $14.3 trillion debt limit on May 16, but the Treasury Department implemented what it called "extraordinary" measures to keep the government from defaulting on its loans. The Obama administration and several economists have warned, however, that Congress must raise the debt limit by Aug. 2 to avoid economic catastrophe. Republicans, meanwhile, have argued that raising the debt limit without also making significant cuts to the federal budget would be irresponsible.
The administration has said it is interested in deficit reduction, but say such plans must not be a condition for raising the debt ceiling. Hence, Republicans plan on showing Democrats that they must be -- next week's vote to raise the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion will be a clean vote, House Republican leadership aides say, and no Republicans are expected to support the measure.
"The Obama Administration and more than 100 House Democrats have repeatedly demanded a clean increase of our debt limit, all but ignoring the overwhelming public opposition to it," said Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. "As such, next week the House will vote to show once and for all that the Democrats' demands are way out of touch with the views of most Americans and the markets, who want Washington to stop spending money we don't have, cut up the credit cards and finally begin to live within our means."
Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden today is continuing discussions with bipartisan congressional leaders over a deficit reduction plan.
Today's meeting is expected to be focused on reforming Medicare and Medicaid, according to reports, which has prompted some liberal groups to speak out against major cuts to those programs.
The liberal grassroots group MoveOn is targeting the Democrats in Biden's group, urging them to take Medicare cuts off the table. The group sent emails to the constituents of Sens. Max Baucus (Mont.) and Daniel Inouye (Hawaii), as well as Reps. Chris Van Hollen (Md.) and Jim Clyburn (S.C.).
"When it's time to vote on the must-pass bill to stop the U.S. from defaulting on its debts, Republicans are hoping to use the vote as leverage to push through cuts to Medicare -- so it's important that the Democrats in the working group stand united," the email reads.
Meanwhile, the Older Women's Economic Security Task Force, a coalition of women's groups, sent a letter to President Obama and Biden, calling for the concerns of women to be taken into account, arguing that women rely disproportionately on programs like Medicare.