They are looking for leverage in the budget debate with Democrats.
The Republican-controlled House will vote next week to permit the government to borrow more money to meet its obligations, a move aimed at heading off a market-rattling confrontation with President Barack Obama over the so-called debt limit.
Full details aren’t settled, but the measure would give the government about three more months of borrowing authority beyond a deadline expected to hit as early as mid-February, No. 2 House Republican Eric Cantor of Virginia said today.
The legislation wouldn’t require immediate spending cuts as earlier promised by GOP leaders such as Speaker John Boehner of Ohio. Instead, it’s aimed at forcing the Democratic-controlled Senate to join the House in debating the federal budget. It would try to do so by conditioning pay for members of Congress on passing a congressional budget measure.
“We are going to pursue strategies that will obligate the Senate to finally join the House in confronting the government’s spending problem,” Boehner told GOP lawmakers at a retreat in Williamburg, Va. “The principle is simple: ‘no budget, no pay.’”
The Senate hasn’t passed a budget since 2009, which has drawn lots of criticism from Republicans but protected Democrats controlling the chamber from politically difficult votes.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid welcomed the House GOP move.
“It is reassuring to see Republicans beginning to back off their threat to hold our economy hostage,” said Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson. “If the House can pass a clean debt-ceiling increase to avoid default and allow the United States to meet its existing obligations, we will be happy to consider it.”