House Republicans are considering pairing the next debt ceiling increase with the budget resolution for fiscal 2014, which would allow the measure to pass the Senate under reconciliation. The plan is hardly fully hatched, nor is it necessarily preferred by the GOP. And it depends largely on whether House Republicans and Senate Democrats can come to terms on a budget plan and proceed to a conference committee, which itself continues to look like a stretch. The two sides passed starkly different budget plans and have yet to figure out a path toward compromise. But multiple Republican sources confirm that House Republicans are considering the option of including debt-ceiling-increase language in the budget resolution package, which under reconciliation rules would preclude a filibuster and allow the Senate to raise the federal borrowing limit with a vote of just 51 members. The government is due to hit the debt limit late next month, although the administration could push it to later this summer. “There is a sense among some in the leadership ranks that a deal is possible — a fairly large deal,” said one political operative with relationships in the House. “The mechanism to get it done would be a joint budget resolution with reconciliation instructions.” (more…)
