Amid the intensified sparring between the Democrats and the Republicans, notably between President Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner, the Senate Democrats are gearing up for their own legislative effort to raise the debt ceiling on a short-term basis in the hope of finally mustering Republican support.
The House Republicans, who have stalled the Obama administration’s efforts to secure a “clean” bill without riders on “Obamacare” leading to eight days of partial Government shutdown thus far, can stymie the effort if they vote en bloc, but Democrats say that some of the moderate Republicans were ready to vote with them for resolving the stalemate.
Obama has challenged Boehner to prove his claim that he does not have enough votes to pass a bill with no strings attached. “let the bill go to the floor and let’s see what happens. Just vote. let every member of Congress vote their conscience and they can determine whether or not they want to shut the Government down…My very strong suspicion is that there are enough votes there,” he said.
Boehner, in a Sunday television interview, had taken the stand that the budget measure would not pass in the Republican-controlled House without the clause to delay “Obamacare” by a year. Thereafter, several Democrats, including Obama, have been asserting that several moderate Republican lawmakers were willing to vote to end the shutdown without bringing up “Obamacare”.
Obama, for his part, is sticking to his stand that he would not enter into negotiations to end the shutdown or strike a debt deal, even as Boehner is equally firm that without assurances of spending cuts, the bill to raise the debt ceiling would not advance in the House of Representatives. “Really, Mr. President, it’s time to have that conversation before our economy is put further at risk,” Boehner said, slamming Obama for refusing to negotiate.
Obama spoke of his willingness to hold negotiations over a range of issues, but made clear that it would be only after the government was allowed to be reopened and the debt ceiling was raised. “We’re not going to negotiate under the threat of further harm to our economy,” he said.
In the meantime, the Obama administration has indicated its willingness to make one concession in its dealings with the Republicans in that it would be ready to accept a short-term raising of the debt limit.
Gene B. Sperling, Obama’s chief economic adviser, said on Monday that the White House would let Congress decide on the extent of increase of the debt limit, which now stands at $16.7 trillion.
“There’s no question that the longer the debt limit is extended, the greater economic certainty there will be in our economy which would be better for jobs, growth and investment,” Sperling said, but conceded it was for the Congress to decide “how long and how often they want to vote on doing that”.