Failing to lift the debt ceiling is dangerous ground for Republicans: Internal GOP polling shows that 51 percent of Americans would blame the party for the debt ceiling not getting raised.
Well be having a fight with the president over cutting spending and how to cut spending, and without the threat of deult, a top GOP leadership aide said. The backstop will be [the] threat of spending cuts that are quite popular.
(Also on POLITICO: House GOP grapples with future)
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At their three-day retreat here, the GOP regrouped following the fiscal cliff crisis and decided to move forward next week with a bill to lift the debt cap with a demand the Senate pass a budget or dock the pay of lawmakers.
Under the new strategy, edudns2714.typepad.com1 legislative priorities would be somewhat juggled: The House would consider raising the debt ceiling this month, extending government funding and stopping or modifying the sequester theRepublicans think sequestration is better fight 1 next and finally another debt ceiling hike in April. Its part of a new recognition by Speaker John Boehner and Republican leadership: They cant force Obamas hand, but they can try to reshuffle the deck in their vor.
(Also on POLITICO: John Cornyn: We will raise the debt ceiling)
The surprise GOP move is an effort to reorder the upcoming legislative fights the debt ceiling, sequester and funding government operations with President Barack Obama to their advantage. They hope to raise the debt ceiling for a mere three months and then return to it once those other battles are over,Stark Law. despite Obamas staunch opposition to a short-term hike.
The thinking laid out by several top GOP aides and lawmakers goes like this: Republicans are aiming to get the debt ceiling fight out of the way in January so they can move on to what they consider more fertile ground for them: the battles over government funding and automatic spending reductions known as the sequester.
The more outwardly political goal of the GOP strategy is to showcase what they say is the Senate Democrats three-yeaRepublicans think sequestration is better fight 1,r delay in passing a budget.
WILLIAMSBURG, aduedu2579.typepad.com Va. Republicans are diving into a strategy to resolve the debt ceiling standoff that they believe will maximize their leverage in the upcoming fiscal fights and show theyre not trying to plunge the nation into deult.
Republicans hope that putting the sequester fight front and center places them on politically more popular ground since Obama will have to act to stop the steep spending cuts from taking effect. The president has said he wants more balanced cuts than simply slashing Pentagon funding, and they hope he will put more entitlement cuts on the table with his back against the wall.
