House Republicans have emerged from their Williamsburg, Va., retreat with a new strategy in the debt limit fight with President Obama and the Senate Democrats: “No budget, no pay.”
To be exact, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor released a statement Friday promising to vote on a debt limit hike good enough for three months of Treasury Department borrowing. But in exchange for a longer debt hike, the House will insist that the Senate pass a budget by April 15th. If they do not, House Republicans say they will stop paying Congress. Here is Cantor’s full statement:
The President’s plan to simply borrow more money without any reform in Washington puts us all at risk.
The first step to fixing this problem is to pass a budget that reduces spending. The House has done so, and will again. The Democratic Senate has not passed a budget in almost four years, which is unfair to hardworking taxpayers who expect more from their representatives. That ends this year.
We must pay our bills and responsibly budget for our future. Next week, we will authorize a three month temporary debt limit increase to give the Senate and House time to pass a budget. Furthermore, if the Senate or House fails to pass a budget in that time, Members of Congress will not be paid by the American people for failing to do their job. No budget, no pay.
