Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) — House Republican leaders are giving up efforts to couple a U.S. debt-limit increase with provisions backing the Keystone XL pipeline or repealing an insurance-risk provision in Obamacare, two party leadership aides said.
House leaders lack enough Republican support for either option, and they are looking at other possible conditions to attach to an increase in the debt limit, said the aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private talks.
One option being discussed by some Republicans is raising the debt ceiling without conditions, relying mostly on Democratic votes.
Recommended For You
Idaho Republican Raul Labrador told reporters that Democrats are "going to reject even the most reasonable alternative" on the debt limit increase. Because Republicans don't want a "cataclysmic fight" over the issue, it makes more sense to accept that and point out that Democrats won't negotiate, he said.
A suspension of the federal debt limit, enacted by Congress in October, is scheduled to expire Feb. 7. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew has urged Congress to act quickly to raise the cap, saying the government's ability to meet its obligations will run out before the end of this month.
Republicans so far have been unable to garner enough support for a bill that would seek to extract spending or policy concessions in exchange for raising the cap. Democrats say they won't accept added conditions to a debt-limit boost.
House Republicans' demands to roll back parts of the Obamacare health-care law or promote the Keystone pipeline as part of a measure to increase the debt ceiling contributed to a 16-day partial government shutdown in October.
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio later called that a "predictable disaster," and yesterday he said Republicans won't let the U.S. default on its obligations.
The health-care option Republicans had been considering would repeal Obamacare provisions designed to limit losses incurred by health insurers if the cost of covering an older, sicker pool of people is higher than they anticipated.
Without those provisions, insurers may have to raise premiums, further discouraging healthy people from signing up, a potential death spiral for the insurance exchanges.
Boehner told reporters after a private conference meeting yesterday that his members have "a lot of opinions about how to deal with the debt limit."
With assistance from Alex Wayne, Kathleen Hunter, James Rowley and Michael C. Bender in Washington.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
