Geithner Says GOP to Act on Debt Cap

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04 ... z1JsCcSM00


Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Republican leaders have assured the White House they are prepared to lift the debt ceiling in time to avoid disruptions to capital markets and a potential credit default.

In interviews aired on the Sunday talk shows, Mr. Geithner said House Speaker John Boehner and other senior Republicans told President Barack Obama in discussions last week that they were aware of the risk of a credit default and were open to lifting the limit even in the absence of a comprehensive deal to slash the country's debt load.

The White House has promised to push ahead on a sweeping long-term deal to pare government spending, but officials say that might not come together until late June at the earliest. The Treasury Department says the U.S. will exceed the current limit, now set at $14.3 trillion, by mid-May and could default on its debt in early July if no action is taken to raise the ceiling.

Mr. Geithner said the two pursuits—sealing a long-range deal and lifting the ceiling—may have to run on parallel tracks. "But if by the time we need to raise the debt limit, we haven't worked all that out, Congress still has to raise the debt limit," Mr. Geithner said on NBC's "Meet the Press." Republican leadership, he said, "recognizes that."

But differences remain between the two sides on what steps will be needed to reach agreement on lifting the debt limit. Republicans are reluctant to let the leverage of the ceiling-limit pass without forcing another round of spending cuts, and Mr. Obama has acknowledged that Republicans won't agree to lift the debt limit without at least another round of spending cuts.




House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), whose cost-cutting budget blueprint passed the House Friday, said on CBS's "Face the Nation" that Republicans want "financial controls" and "cuts in spending" in order to agree to a lifting of the debt limit.

"Nobody wants to play around with the country's credit rating," he said. 'We just want some cuts and controls going forward."

Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn, one of the Group of Six senators from both parties who are trying to craft a budget compromise, said on Fox News Sunday that he would vote against lifting the debt ceiling unless there was "absolute certainty that we have made critical changes necessary to put the country back on track."

Sen. Rand Paul signaled a compromise on spending cuts in Congress was possible. The tea-party backed Republican from Kentucky has vowed to oppose raising the debt ceiling unless it comes along with an agreement on budget cuts. "Conservatives have to accept some cuts to military spending, while liberals must accept some cuts to domestic welfare," he said on CNN.

Mr. Geithner warned Republicans on Capitol Hill not to push their leverage too far. "Those people up there [in Congress] who are telling people that you can take this to the brink, because it gives us some leverage, they're going to own the responsibility for the risk that creates for the American economy," he said.


Well, there you have it, Both Repubs & Dems cave to the Fed's on raising the Debt ceiling, this is never going to end.