(Bloomberg News) Republicans might accept a "mini" deal with the Obama administration on raising the debt limit, Senator John Cornyn of Texas, a Republican leader, said yesterday on "Fox News Sunday."

The idea may delay politically difficult decisions if it's structured to postpone action on a larger package of spending cuts or revenue increases until after the 2012 election cycle, an analyst said.

"What we've been calling for is to have a down payment that's as big as possible," Marc Goldwein, former associate director of President Barack Obama's debt commission, said yesterday in an interview.

The Senate shortened its July 4 recess and will remain in Washington to discuss a deal this week to raise the nation's $14.3 trillion debt limit. The Obama administration is negotiating with Congress on reducing the long-term budget deficit as part of a plan to raise the limit before borrowing authority expires.

Cornyn said that while Republicans would prefer a long-term settlement, they would accept a shorter-term agreement if that's all they could get done. The Treasury Department has projected that on Aug. 2 the U.S. will no longer be able to meet obligations if the legal debt ceiling isn't raised.

"The problem with a mini-deal is we have a maxi problem," said Cornyn, who is in charge of the 2012 Republican Senate campaign strategy. "We'll take the savings we can get now, and we will re-litigate this as we get closer to the election."

Spending Cuts

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, declined to comment on the idea of a short-term agreement.

"The speaker has always said that the time is now and our goal is to get the largest possible spending cuts," Michael Steel, a spokesman for Boehner, said in an interview.

The White House didn't respond to a request for comment on Cornyn's remarks.

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