By Alan K. Ota and David Harrison

Roll Call

Jan. 21, 2013

The short-term debt limit suspension detailed Monday by House Republicans appears likely to delay one fiscal confrontation, but opinions are divided on whether it could lay the groundwork for something much bigger.

The legislation expected to reach the House floor Wednesday would suspend the limit on government’s borrowing through May 18, then automatically increase the current $16.4 trillion ceiling to accommodate additional debt accumulated by that date...

The lawmaker who will write the House’s budget resolution, Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., said the House will adopt a budget plan with reconciliation instructions for tax code changes. But he offered no prediction of whether the House and Senate will be able to agree on a budget resolution or fast-track instructions.

William Hoagland, a former Republican Senate budget aide who is now a senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center, said the reconciliation process offers a glimmer of hope that Congress can achieve the big deficit reduction deal it’s been looking for. “Anything we would do to get back to regular order, as difficult as that is, would be one of the shining lights that would come out of this otherwise miserable situation,” he said.

Read the full article here

---

Economic Policy Project