Speaker John Boehner is at least starting out talking a good game on the debt ceiling fight. In a speech to the Economic Club of New York before a lot of Wall Street types, Boehner said that the GOP would swap voting for an increase in the debt ceiling "for spending cuts that exceed any additional borrowing authority that Congress approves."
The Hill:
His tough talk drew a cool reception from an audience of Wall Street executives.
In an economic address to financial powerbrokers in New York, the Speaker took a hard line in the negotiations to raise the nation's $14.3 trillion debt limit and avoid a first-ever default by the federal government."It's true that allowing America to default would be irresponsible," Boehner told the Economic Club of New York on Monday evening. "But it would be more irresponsible to raise the debt ceiling without simultaneously taking dramatic steps to reduce spending and reform the budget process.
"To increase the debt limit without simultaneously addressing the drivers of our debt -- in defiance of the will of our people -- would be monumentally arrogant and massively irresponsible," he said.
Boehner reiterated his demand that any increase in the debt limit be accompanied by "significant cuts and reforms."
At least Boehner was tossing around the "T" word rather than the "B" word for how large those cuts should be.
If he sticks by his formula, it would mean cuts in the budget of around $3 trillion since that is the amount that the debt ceiling is supposed to be raised. This means he will get another bite at the deficit apple in less than three years where he will likely have a GOP senate and hopefully a Republican in the White House to make further cuts.
Boehner is already coming under fire for not wanting to cut more. But it took us a decade to build up the deficit and debt to where it is and we're not going to return to fiscal sanity all at once.
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