Boehner makes last appeal: two-year budget, debt ceiling

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Speaker John Boehner is making one final appeal to restive Republicans: Pass a hard-won agreement with President Barack Obama to fund the government and forestall a debt crisis before Rep. Paul Ryan assumes the top job later this week. But he encountered immediate resistance when he laid out the plan Monday night.

The budget pact, in concert with a must-pass increase in the federal borrowing limit, would solve the thorniest issues awaiting Ryan, R-Wis., who is set to be elected speaker Thursday. It also would take budget showdowns and government shutdown fights off the table until after the 2016 presidential election, a potential boon to Republican candidates who might otherwise face uncomfortable questions about messes in the GOP-led Congress.

Congress must raise the federal borrowing limit by Nov. 3 or risk a default, while money to pay for government operations runs out Dec. 11 unless Congress acts. The emerging framework would give both the Pentagon and domestic agencies two years of budget relief of $80 billion in exchange for cuts elsewhere in the budget.

Outlined for rank-and-file Republicans in a closed-door session Monday night, the budget relief would total $50 billion in the first year and $30 billion in the second year.

“Let’s declare success,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told Republicans, according to Rep. David Jolly, R-Fla., as the leadership sought to rally support for the emerging deal.

Conservatives in the conference who drove Boehner to resign were not ready to fall in line. But a chief selling point for GOP leaders is that the alternative is chaos and a stand-alone debt limit increase that might be forced on Republicans.

Negotiators hoped to officially file the legislation Monday night.