Boehner: Raise Debt Limit, But Cut Spending

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner took a tough line Tuesday on end-of-year legislation to increase the government's borrowing authority, saying he would only support it if it locks in a new round of spending cuts. Boehner said he will insist "on my simple principle of cuts and reforms greater than the debt limit increase," according to excerpts of remarks the top U.S. Republican was to deliver later in the day at a Peterson Foundation fiscal forum. Boehner staked out that position last year as Congress and President Barack Obama struggled to raise the debt limit. That fight, which nearly brought the country to a historic default on its outstanding loans, culminated in an August deal forcing around $2 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years. Some conservative "Tea Party" activists in Congress, who were elected on a smaller-government platform, had urged Boehner and other Republican leaders to allow a default rather than fail to address the rapidly growing U.S. national debt. Continue reading this article

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