(Bloomberg News) The U.S. House plans a vote next week on a measure that would raise the government's debt limit by $2.4 trillion, cut spending, cap government expenditures and propose a balanced-budget constitutional amendment, Republican Representatives Sean Duffy and Billy Long said.
Duffy, of Wisconsin, and Long, of Missouri, described discussions in a closed-door meeting of House Republicans today on Capitol Hill. Republican leaders are scheduled to hold a news conference this morning.
President Barack Obama and congressional leaders from both parties have been meeting daily to search for a compromise that would cut the deficit and let the government sell debt after its borrowing authority is exhausted on Aug. 2.
Obama pressed Republican and Democratic congressional leaders yesterday to give him options for a deficit-cutting deal that lawmakers could support as part of raising the nation's $14.3 trillion debt limit by the August deadline.
Obama has scheduled an 11 a.m. news conference today in Washington to continue to push for a deal that combines spending cuts with revenue increases. Republicans support the cuts while opposing higher taxes.
White House Chief of Staff William Daley said the president still wants as large a deficit-cutting plan as possible and believes "it is time to stop the rhetoric and start the action" on raising the debt limit. Daley, speaking at a U.S.- Korea Business Council dinner at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington last night, said Obama won't accept a solution that doesn't extend at least through next year, when he faces re- election.
'Fiscal Sustainability'
The administration has warned that it will be unable to pay all its bills and that the nation's credit rating will be downgraded, forcing higher borrowing costs, if the U.S.'s debt limit isn't raised by Aug. 2.
"This is not only an issue of fiscal sustainability," Daley said. "It is an issue of whether our elected officials can fulfill their most basic responsibility and fulfill the responsibilities that the American people sent them here to do."
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.6 percent to 1,316.12 at 9:33 a.m. in New York. The gauge fell 2.6 percent this week through yesterday on concern the economic recovery is at risk as Europe's sovereign-debt crisis grows. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 58.58 points, or 0.5 percent, to 12,495.70.
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