WASHINGTON D.C. — House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday morning that House Republicans will propose a temporary increase in the debt ceiling to allow for negotiations on larger deficit-reduction issues.
Boehner welcomed a meeting with President Barack Obama planned for later Thursday, saying he hoped it would be substantive discussion on measures to reduce the nation’s deficit but adding he didn’t want to set any preconditions.
It’s not a total solution and there’s still plenty of work to be done, but House Republican leaders said Thursday they will propose a temporary increase in the nation’s borrowing limit.
However, it was unclear if the measure would also address the partial government shutdown that entered its 10th day.
GOP Rep. Tim Griffin of Arkansas said House Speaker John Boehner presented the plan for a a six-week debt ceiling bill with no policy provisions attached at a caucus meeting on Thursday.
An advisory to the House GOP caucus obtained by CNN said the party leaders “will be rolling out a plan to provide for a temporary increase in the debt limit as we pursue other avenues for negotiation,” adding that the legislation could be taken up by the Rules Committee on Thursday.
Sources told CNN that the proposal would include demands for negotiations on issues related to the national debt, although it’s unclear precisely what form those talks would take.
Another question was whether President Barack Obama and Democrats will accept a separate temporary measure to increase the federal borrowing limit while keeping in place the shutdown caused by failure to fund the government in the new fiscal year that started October 1.
“I think that there is a problem with leaving the government shut down because of the impact on what is happening to people,” Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut told CNN on Wednesday night after joining the entire House Democratic caucus for a meeting with Obama.
Boehner and Republicans are demanding that Pres. Obama and Senate Democrats negotiate on deficit reduction steps that would be part of legislation to reopen the government and raise the limit on federal borrowing needed to pay the bills.
Obama has refused to enter formal talks until the shutdown ends and the debt ceiling has been raised to remove the threat of default.
A senior House Republican told CNN that GOP members may be willing to go for a short-term debt ceiling hike — lasting four to six weeks — as long as the president agrees that negotiations will occur during that time.
However, no specifics were immediately available about how such legislation would take shape or how the talks would occur.
Republican sources have also told CNN the parameters of those talks have to be specific enough to sell to their skeptical GOP members.
CNN’s Chelsea J. Carter, Paul Steinhauser, Jim Acosta, Deirdre Walsh, Barbara Starr, Ted Barrett, Dan Merica and Brianna Keilar contributed to this report.
