Updated Oct. 10, 2013 12:27 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON—House Republicans on Thursday will offer the White House a six-week extension of the nation's borrowing limit in exchange for wide-ranging negotiations on spending, in a potential major breakthrough in the deadlock that resulted in a partial government shutdown and threatens the country's ability to borrow.
The measure, which runs through Nov. 22, deals with just one of two major components of the spending standoff. It doesn't reopen the government, which has been partially closed for 10 days, leaving that question to additional deliberations between lawmakers and the White House over government spending.
A White House official signaled the Obama administration was open to the short-term debt-ceiling increase but said more is needed to break the budget impasse that led to a partial closure of the government on Oct. 1.
"While we are willing to look at any proposal Congress puts forward to end these manufactured crises, we will not allow a faction of the Republicans in the House to hold the economy hostage to its extraneous and extreme political demands," the official said. "Congress needs to pass a clean debt-limit increase and a funding bill to reopen the government."
GOP leaders outlined their latest proposal to rank-and-file Republicans at a closed-door meeting on Thursday morning. The development comes hours before top House Republicans head to the White House for their first session with President Barack Obama since the shutdown began.
After the meeting, House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) said House Republicans won't bring the bill to the floor for a vote until after they meet with Mr. Obama.
"I would hope that the president would look at this as an opportunity and a good-faith effort on our part to move halfway—halfway—to what he's demanded in order to have these conversations begin," Mr. Boehner said. In an acknowledgment the proposal might not work out, Mr. Boehner said that "you could end up back in the same place, and we don't want to be here."
Conservative Republicans said they would only support the plan if the president signals in Thursday afternoon's meeting that he will negotiate with them on longer-term budget issues. But GOP lawmakers didn't specify exactly what the president had to commit to. "I'll know it when I hear it," said Rep. Matt Salmon (R., Ariz.).
The plan would seek to tie the Treasury's hands in extending how long it can operate without an additional debt-ceiling increase by terminating the so-called extraordinary measures that could allow the Treasury Department to go past the six-week deadline.
Some House Republicans heading into the closed-door GOP meeting earlier Thursday indicated they could be open to a six-week increase in the federal borrowing limit, but some cautioned they could only support a short-term measure if it included provisions to reduce the overall debt.
Speaker of the House John Boehner arrives at the U.S. Capitol Thursday. Getty Images
"I really want to see some kind of cuts before I vote for a debt limit, something that deals with the long-term problem," Rep. Thomas Massie (R., Ky.) said before the meeting. He didn't explicitly reject the House GOP plan, but he didn't embrace it either.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio), former chairman of the Republican Study Committee, also said he could "potentially" support the short-term increase if it took steps to curb federal spending.
"We think there needs to be some movement in dealing with the overall problem," potentially by demanding a matching amount of cuts for every dollar the debt ceiling is raised, Mr. Jordan said, heading into the meeting.
Rep. Joe Barton (R., Texas) said he could only support the increase if it also had measures to change federal safety net programs or other spending curbs. "It has to have some savings and entitlements," he said.
The planned proposal comes a day after Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), chairman of the House Budget Committee, outlined a plan to fellow conservatives to extend the nation's borrowing limit for four to six weeks, paired with a framework for broader deficit-reduction talks, according to lawmakers briefed on the proposal. The greater the spending reduction the talks produced, the longer the next extension of the debt ceiling would be under Mr. Ryan's plan.
Solving an immediate impasse over the debt ceiling wouldn't necessarily resolve the spending fight that has closed the government. Many of the same conservatives who backed a short-term extension of the country's borrowing authority said they were willing to keep parts of the government shuttered in order to keep fighting over the health law.
White House officials view Thursday's meeting as an opportunity for Mr. Obama to make his case directly to lawmakers who are leading the fight to try to win policy changes, among them curbs to the health law, a senior administration official said.
At a White House meeting with House Democrats on Wednesday, Mr. Obama said they "need to be prepared to give and take" and reminded them "we weren't going to win everything," said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D., Va.), who attended the session. The president, he said, seemed to express "some sympathy for the position Republicans have put themselves in."
The prospect of broad budget talks is reviving worries among some liberals that Mr. Obama would agree to steps to trim Social Security or Medicare benefits to win Republican concessions. "That's our fear," said Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D., Ariz.) before the White House meeting.
Heritage Action, a prominent conservative group leading the charge against the health law, said it would support a short-term extension of the country's borrowing limit—but only to refocus the fight on the health law.
"We should raise the debt limit," Heritage Action Chief Executive Michael Needham said at a breakfast organized by the Christian Science Monitor. But he insisted that curbs on the health law be attached to any measure reopening the government.
A number of prominent conservatives agree with that tactic. "I still think Obamacare is central" to the broader budget impasse, said Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio).
—Janet Hook and Carol E. Lee contributed to this article.
Write to Kristina Peterson at [email protected]
WASHINGTON—House Republicans on Thursday will offer the White House a six-week extension of the nation's borrowing limit in exchange for wide-ranging negotiations on spending, in a potential major breakthrough in the deadlock that resulted in a partial government shutdown and threatens the country's ability to borrow.
The measure, which runs through Nov. 22, deals with just one of two major components of the spending standoff. It doesn't reopen the government, which has been partially closed for 10 days, leaving that question to additional deliberations between lawmakers and the White House over government spending.
A White House official signaled the Obama administration was open to the short-term debt-ceiling increase but said more is needed to break the budget impasse that led to a partial closure of the government on Oct. 1.
"While we are willing to look at any proposal Congress puts forward to end these manufactured crises, we will not allow a faction of the Republicans in the House to hold the economy hostage to its extraneous and extreme political demands," the official said. "Congress needs to pass a clean debt-limit increase and a funding bill to reopen the government."
GOP leaders outlined their latest proposal to rank-and-file Republicans at a closed-door meeting on Thursday morning. The development comes hours before top House Republicans head to the White House for their first session with President Barack Obama since the shutdown began.
After the meeting, House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) said House Republicans won't bring the bill to the floor for a vote until after they meet with Mr. Obama.
"I would hope that the president would look at this as an opportunity and a good-faith effort on our part to move halfway—halfway—to what he's demanded in order to have these conversations begin," Mr. Boehner said. In an acknowledgment the proposal might not work out, Mr. Boehner said that "you could end up back in the same place, and we don't want to be here."
Conservative Republicans said they would only support the plan if the president signals in Thursday afternoon's meeting that he will negotiate with them on longer-term budget issues. But GOP lawmakers didn't specify exactly what the president had to commit to. "I'll know it when I hear it," said Rep. Matt Salmon (R., Ariz.).
The plan would seek to tie the Treasury's hands in extending how long it can operate without an additional debt-ceiling increase by terminating the so-called extraordinary measures that could allow the Treasury Department to go past the six-week deadline.
Some House Republicans heading into the closed-door GOP meeting earlier Thursday indicated they could be open to a six-week increase in the federal borrowing limit, but some cautioned they could only support a short-term measure if it included provisions to reduce the overall debt.
Speaker of the House John Boehner arrives at the U.S. Capitol Thursday. Getty Images
"I really want to see some kind of cuts before I vote for a debt limit, something that deals with the long-term problem," Rep. Thomas Massie (R., Ky.) said before the meeting. He didn't explicitly reject the House GOP plan, but he didn't embrace it either.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio), former chairman of the Republican Study Committee, also said he could "potentially" support the short-term increase if it took steps to curb federal spending.
"We think there needs to be some movement in dealing with the overall problem," potentially by demanding a matching amount of cuts for every dollar the debt ceiling is raised, Mr. Jordan said, heading into the meeting.
Rep. Joe Barton (R., Texas) said he could only support the increase if it also had measures to change federal safety net programs or other spending curbs. "It has to have some savings and entitlements," he said.
The planned proposal comes a day after Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), chairman of the House Budget Committee, outlined a plan to fellow conservatives to extend the nation's borrowing limit for four to six weeks, paired with a framework for broader deficit-reduction talks, according to lawmakers briefed on the proposal. The greater the spending reduction the talks produced, the longer the next extension of the debt ceiling would be under Mr. Ryan's plan.
Solving an immediate impasse over the debt ceiling wouldn't necessarily resolve the spending fight that has closed the government. Many of the same conservatives who backed a short-term extension of the country's borrowing authority said they were willing to keep parts of the government shuttered in order to keep fighting over the health law.
White House officials view Thursday's meeting as an opportunity for Mr. Obama to make his case directly to lawmakers who are leading the fight to try to win policy changes, among them curbs to the health law, a senior administration official said.
At a White House meeting with House Democrats on Wednesday, Mr. Obama said they "need to be prepared to give and take" and reminded them "we weren't going to win everything," said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D., Va.), who attended the session. The president, he said, seemed to express "some sympathy for the position Republicans have put themselves in."
The prospect of broad budget talks is reviving worries among some liberals that Mr. Obama would agree to steps to trim Social Security or Medicare benefits to win Republican concessions. "That's our fear," said Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D., Ariz.) before the White House meeting.
Heritage Action, a prominent conservative group leading the charge against the health law, said it would support a short-term extension of the country's borrowing limit—but only to refocus the fight on the health law.
"We should raise the debt limit," Heritage Action Chief Executive Michael Needham said at a breakfast organized by the Christian Science Monitor. But he insisted that curbs on the health law be attached to any measure reopening the government.
A number of prominent conservatives agree with that tactic. "I still think Obamacare is central" to the broader budget impasse, said Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio).
—Janet Hook and Carol E. Lee contributed to this article.
Write to Kristina Peterson at [email protected]