- By
- SIOBHAN HUGHES
- And
- PATRICK O'CONNOR
- CONNECT
Associated PressHouse Speaker John Boehner, right, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor after a House Republican conference meeting on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
WASHINGTON—House Republicans on Tuesday stepped up calls for face-to-face budget negotiations with Democrats on government spending and the nation's borrowing limit, saying they were willing to engage in wide-ranging talks to end an impasse that closed parts of the federal government a week ago.
"All we're asking for is to sit down and have a conversation," House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) said after a closed-door meeting with House Republicans. "There's no reason to make it more difficult to bring people to the table. There's no boundaries here; there's nothing on the table, and there's nothing off the table."
The call for direct negotiations came after several weeks of political brinkmanship during which talks on how to solve disagreements on federal spending, health-care policy and other matters were notably absent.
Mr. Boehner, under pressure to keep together a divided Republican caucus in the House, turned to calls for negotiations after pressing GOP priorities in numerous bills on government funding in recent weeks, both before and after the shutdown.
"It's time for us to sit down and resolve our differences," Mr. Boehner said. "Are we going to sit down and have a conversation or aren't we?"
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday, maintained Democrats were ready to negotiate over government spending as long as Republicans first agreed to reopen the government and increase the nation's borrowing limit. "Everyone has my commitment: open the government, raise the debt ceiling and we'll talk about anything you want to talk about," Mr. Reid said.
To provide a formal vehicle for budget negotiations, House Republican leaders plan to propose a bipartisan, congressional working group to discuss fiscal issues, including government funding and the debt limit. They plan to attach a provision setting up the panel to legislation they believe will be hard for the Senate to reject—a bill to keep salary disbursements current for "essential" government employees who are working during the government shutdown.
Mr. Boehner refused to respond to questions about whether he would support a short-term debt limit increase to keep the government solvent while talks were under way. But Rep. Tom Cole (R., Okla.), a close Boehner associate, said Republicans might be willing to pass a debt-ceiling extension in order to start broader talks over reducing the deficit. "If the president is willing to talk, I suspect we could deal with these problems," Mr. Cole said.
House Democrats recoiled at the prospect of budget negotiations along the lines of the so-called supercommittee formed in the 2011 debt-ceiling negotiations.
"Not again," said Rep. Xavier Becerra (D., Calif.), one of the 12 members of that group. "It was just punting." He said what emerged from that group's failure to reach a deal to reduce the deficit was the sequester, the across-the-board spending cuts that kicked in last spring. "There is no reason we can't get our work done now."
House Republicans spoke as Senate Democrats prepared to debate a measure that would extend the nation's borrowing authority through 2014, in a fresh sign the focus of the budget impasse is shifting toward preventing a U.S. debt default.
Democrats are still weighing their opening bid, but the most likely scenario is to advance a debt-limit bill free of extraneous policy amendments, as Mr. Obama has demanded. The bill would put the need for the next debt-limit increase after next year's midterm elections.
House Republicans say they won't pass any such debt-limit extension unless it is accompanied by deficit-reduction measures or other priorities.
The Treasury says the debt ceiling must be raised this month or it won't be able to pay all the country's bills. With that prospect approaching, the standoff over increasing the borrowing limit has merged with a related impasse over terms for funding the government so that it can fully reopen.
On Monday, White House officials said they were willing to accept a short-term measure to extend the ceiling, possibly for a few weeks, to allow lawmakers to work out a longer-term resolution. But they said that wasn't their preferred course.
"It is the responsibility of Congress to decide how long and how often they want to vote," White House adviser Gene Sperling said Monday at a breakfast organized by Politico. "The important thing is that they not threaten default."
A spokesman for Mr. Boehner said that if the White House was open to a short-term increase in the debt ceiling "with accompanying spending cuts and reforms, that is a positive sign."
House Republican leaders had said in recent weeks that they would pass their own legislation aimed at extending the borrowing authority for one year, which would include GOP priorities such as finishing construction on the Keystone XL pipeline and changes to the new federal health law. But they so far haven't brought a bill to the floor.
The debt discussion played out Monday on the seventh day that the government was partially shut down, as Congress failed to pass a measure funding federal agencies for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.
Mr. Obama called on Mr. Boehner to allow a House vote on legislation to fund the government that excludes policy riders or attempts to curtail the health law. Mr. Boehner said there aren't enough votes in the House to pass such a bill, but Democrats argue that there are.
"If Republicans and Speaker Boehner are saying there are not enough votes, they should prove it," Mr. Obama said in remarks at the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Monday. "Let the bill go to the floor, and let's see what happens."
Mr. Boehner said the president should negotiate with GOP lawmakers. "It's time to have that conversation before our economy is put further at risk," he said.
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew is making a trip to Capitol Hill on Thursday to answer questions about the debt ceiling in front of the Senate Finance Committee, giving Republicans a chance to press him for potential areas of compromise.
Senate Democrats would need 60 votes to advance any debt-ceiling plan if Republicans decide to filibuster. Democratic aides expressed confidence that all 54 Democrats and allied senators would support the bill being considered, but one aide said it might be hard to persuade Republicans to cross party lines until the prospect of the U.S. reneging on some of its obligations is closer.
Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) said he was on the fence about the proposal and wanted to see what else Democrats were offering up. "The markets will not stand for default," Mr. McCain said. "I want it done."
The debt ceiling could resonate in next year's elections. Senate Republicans plan to blast Democrats who support any bill raising the debt ceiling that lacks offsetting measures to trim deficits. Senate Democrats plan to attack Republicans for pressing their fight to delay or alter the health law to the point where the government has been partially shuttered and the debt-ceiling deadline has drawn near.
—Janet Hook and Kristina Peterson contributed to this article.Write to Siobhan Hughes at [email protected]
