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Boehner Reiterates Need to Couple Spending Cuts With Debt Limit Hike

Speaker John A. Boehner signaled again Tuesday that President Barack Obama is going to have to talk with him about spending cuts if the White House wants to raise the debt ceiling once more.

A day after White House Press Secretary Jay Carney reiterated the president’s position that the White House would not negotiate on the nation’s debt, Boehner stubbornly reaffirmed his own position.

“We’re not going to raise the debt ceiling without real cuts in spending,” the Ohio Republican said. “It’s as simple as that.”

When he was pressed on whether he could achieve dollar-for-dollar cuts in spending for every dollar raised in the debt ceiling, Boehner equivocated before expressing his own personal opinion that the “Boehner Rule” should be followed.

While the federal borrowing authority expired in May, with the debt limit now set at roughly $16.7 trillion, the Treasury Department has been taking “extraordinary measures” to stave off the need for new borrowing authority until this fall. Congress and the president will need to reach a deal before then if the government is going to grant new borrowing authority when the Treasury Department’s gimmicks run out.

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