[h=3]By JANET HOOK[/h]House Republican leaders Friday proposed extending the federal debt limit by three months, marking a significant shift in GOP strategy that could reduce the market-rattling risk of the U.S. running out of cash to pay its bills.
The GOP proposal, which is expected to go before the House next week, includes a requirement that the House and Senate pass formal budgets by mid-April, but it does not include specific spending cuts. That marks a retreat from Republicans' long-standing insistence that any debt-level increase be accompanied by comparable spending cuts.
The move represents the clearest sign yet Republicans are backing away from using the debt ceiling as the battlefield for their next budget fight with President Barack Obama. It's also evidence of what top GOP leaders have been hinting in recent weeks: that the recurring cycle of fiscal crises isn't helping the party politically, failing to give them substantive victories while sticking them with political blame.
Getty ImagesU.S. House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor earlier this month.
The GOP proposal, which is expected to go before the House next week, includes a requirement that the House and Senate pass formal budgets by mid-April, but it does not include specific spending cuts. That marks a retreat from Republicans' long-standing insistence that any debt-level increase be accompanied by comparable spending cuts.
The move represents the clearest sign yet Republicans are backing away from using the debt ceiling as the battlefield for their next budget fight with President Barack Obama. It's also evidence of what top GOP leaders have been hinting in recent weeks: that the recurring cycle of fiscal crises isn't helping the party politically, failing to give them substantive victories while sticking them with political blame.
Getty ImagesU.S. House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor earlier this month.