In a repeat of the meandering House Republicans story since they gained a slim majority?
The House Speaker is jumping from one stance to another in dealing with a looming showdown with Democrats and President Biden…
Though the GOPer’s have been insistant that they’ll NOT accept a debt ceiling increase without budget cuts?
They can’t decide among themselves on what they would cut….
And?
In the end?
The Debt Ceiling WILL be raised as it always is….
House Republicans are making a mid-course budget shift, downplaying earlier demands to leverage the fate of the debt ceiling with a blueprint for spending cuts to get President Biden to the negotiating table.
It’s a strategic recalibration at a time when the GOP can’t agree on some detailed fiscal 2024 budget ingredients, despite unity achieved on other issues in the majority. Amid a banking crisis, the Federal Reserve’s rising interest rates and recession worries, the business community and most economists are warning against political hostage-taking using the debt ceiling. Some Republicans initially said they planned to meet a mid-April deadline for their budget process, a timeline that has slipped, report The Hill’s Emily Brooks and Aris Folley.
That sit-down may happen in late April. Or it may not. Biden says the House GOP must produce and pass a budget plan, arguing that his blueprint has been public since March 9. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who is trying to steer conservatives who initially demanded a goal of budget balance over 10 years, has sounded for weeks like a leader with an outline written in pencil rather than a man promoting detailed budget charts.
There’s another wrinkle: Biden wants Congress to pass an increase in the debt ceiling free of unrelated add-ons and partisan measures that would be seen as deal-breakers among Democratic lawmakers. But House Republicans envision using the must-pass debt measure as a way to get components of their flagship energy bill, the “Lower Energy Costs Act,” through Congress….