WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) — House Republicans
may seek a quick, short-term extension of the government's debt limit, a
move that
would avoid an immediate default by the Treasury as the party
seeks to maximize leverage in negotiations over spending cuts
with President Barack Obama this spring, officials said Thursday.
"All options are on the table as far as
we're concerned," Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin said at a news conference
during a three-day
retreat of the rank and file. He said private discussions focused
on how best to "achieve progress on controlling our deficits
and controlling our debt."
Ryan declined to say how long an extension of the government's borrowing authority is under consideration, or what conditions
might be attached. Obama has said repeatedly that he favors additional deficit savings yet he will not negotiate spending
cuts as part of an agreement to raise the current $16.4 trillion debt limit. Some Republicans have suggested they may seek
unspecified reforms rather than reductions, perhaps trying to force the Democratic-controlled Senate to approve a budget.
The debt limit is one of three deadlines that Congress and the administration will confront this spring. Across-the-board
spending cuts begin in early March, and the government runs out of funding for many agencies and services on March 27. By
contrast, there is no fixed date for raising the debt limit, since the Treasury has not yet notified Congress when it will
exhaust all other measures to stay current with its bills.
Republicans gathered for their retreat at a
secluded golf resort a two-hour-plus drive from the Capitol after an
awkward beginning
to the new Congress.
On Jan. 3, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio drew
dissenting votes from nine fellow Republicans in winning a new term as
speaker,
while one voted present and two abstained. Two days earlier, he
had infuriated Republicans as well as Democrats from New York
and New Jersey by postponing a vote on emergency relief aid for
victims of Superstorm Sandy.
Last Friday, the party's rank and file
overwhelmingly opposed the aid bill when it came to a vote, unhappy that
it did not
provide for cuts elsewhere in the budget and as a result added to
deficits. The $50 billion measure cleared on the strength
of Democratic support, a highly unusual event given that
Republicans control the House.
At his news conference Thursday, Ryan sidestepped when asked which would inflict the most harm on the economy — implementation
of across-the-board cuts, a partial government shutdown or a default.
"The worst thing for the economy is for this Congress and this administration to do nothing to get our debt and deficits under
control," said the party's 2012 vice presidential candidate, back in Congress now as House Budget Committee chairman. "We
think the worst thing for the economy is to move past these events that are occurring without any progress."
Passage of a shorter-term increase in the debt limit would essentially shuffle the order of the looming deadlines. Rather
than flirt with a first-ever default to get their way on spending cuts — a strategy unlikely to win favor on Wall Street —
Republicans might threaten a partial government shutdown or allow across-the-board cuts to remain in effect.
Neither is without potential political fallout.
In particular, Republicans paid a heavy
political price for a pair of government shutdowns in the 1990s. Yet the
economic
impact of a brief interruption in some federal services appears
far less daunting than the risk of an unprecedented default
that could destabilize financial markets at a time the economy is
remains short of full strength after the worst recession
in decades.
One Republican, Rep. John Fleming of Louisiana, told reporters there had been several proposals in the private discussions
to advance the Republican goal of cutting spending while renewing the government's borrowing authority.
Among them is a requirement for approval of a
balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution, a condition the
Democratic-controlled
Senate would almost certainly reject, or perhaps a watered-down
requirement for a mere vote on an amendment.