Kasich Says Gop Will Restore Federal Borrowing Authority Republicans Promise Not To Use Debt Ceiling In Fight With Clinton
The chairman of the House Budget Committee, Rep. John R. Kasich, R-Ohio, said Sunday that Republicans would restore the government’s authority to borrow money, thereby abandoning what is potentially their strongest weapon in their drive to force a budget agreement with the Clinton administration on Republican terms.
“We’re going to raise the debt ceiling; in my opinion, we should,” Kasich said. “My sense is you don’t want to mess around with defaulting here in the United States.”
The comments of the Ohio lawmaker, made on the NBC television program “Meet the Press,” followed a statement by House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., on Friday declaring that congressional leaders “will find a way to take care of” the debt-limitation problem.
The Republicans seem to have decided that with the debt ceiling issue still unresolved, the risk of failing to reach agreement with the Clinton administration is too great and has the potential to undermine their bargaining position. The talks are expected to resume Wednesday, but Kasich said Sunday that the two sides were still “universes apart.”
President Clinton, at his news conference Thursday, said that agreement on the budget was “within our grasp.” Looking only at the figures in their respective proposals, the differences over a seven-year period do seem relatively small. Rather, the parties are bogged down in the structure of the spending, for Medicare and welfare, in particular.
“Contrary to what we have heard, we are miles and miles away,” Kasich said Sunday. “I mean, just on a basic issue like welfare reform, you know, that we can’t even reach agreement on whether able-bodied people between the ages of 18 and 50 who get food stamps ought to be required to go to work.”
He added: “You can’t lay down a plan that keeps all the power and the influence and the money in this city without making fundamental changes in the way these programs work.”
Tony Blankley, the spokesman for Gingrich, said Sunday that he could not confirm that the top Republicans had agreed to restore the government’s borrowing authority.
The Clinton administration, which has so far finessed the ceiling and said it could continue to do so until at least mid-February, welcomed the comments of Gingrich and Kasich.
“I think there’s now a pretty clear consensus that responsible officials have to make the preservation of our creditworthiness a top priority,” said Deputy Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers.
Since the government reached its statutory limit of $4.9 trillion on Nov. 15, the Treasury has managed to avoid default by substituting Treasury securities held in government pension funds, which count against the ceiling, with its IOUs, which do not. This provides some financial head-room, but additional measures would be needed in mid-February to meet obligations on securities in public hands.
Some House Republicans have suggested impeaching of Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin for unconstitutional juggling of the government books. The administration has asserted that the Treasury’s actions have been entirely legal.
Kasich, as did Gingrich on Friday, also pledged Sunday there would be no more partial shutdowns of the government, which on two occasions since mid-November caused the furlough of thousands of government workers and closed many operations, including national parks and passport offices.
“No, we will not,” he said when asked if the Republicans would close the government again by passing a bill to finance it that the president would not sign.
Instead, Kasich said, the strategy will be to intensify its efforts to deny money for things it regards as low priority.