House GOP To Push Separate Bill To Reopen Government

By
Nicole Greco
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WASHINGTON — Republican senators prepared to meet on Tuesday morning to hear from their leadership about a potential deal with Democrats that could resolve the standoff with President Obama, reopen the government and lift the threat of an American default by raising the debt ceiling.

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, will try to sell his colleagues on the proposal during an early meeting of the Senate Republican conference at 11 a.m. Mr. McConnell reached the agreement on Monday evening with Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader; Mr. Reid also plans to discuss the arrangement at a Democratic caucus meeting on Tuesday afternoon.

The deal would reopen the government until Jan. 15 and raise the debt limit until Feb. 7. In addition, lawmakers would agree to conclude negotiations on a longer-term budget by the middle of December.

But as House members returned to Washington on Tuesday morning, the deal’s fate in that chamber remained uncertain. House Speaker John A. Boehner, who huddled with his top lieutenants throughout the day on Monday, also plans to discuss the Senate deal behind closed doors with his members, some of whom quickly rejected it as details emerged.

“We’ve got a name for it in the House: it’s called the Senate surrender caucus,” said Representative Tim Huelskamp, Republican of Kansas. “Anybody who would vote for that in the House as Republican would virtually guarantee a primary challenger.”

“This has us pretty nervous; it’s just a mess,” said John E. Nixon, the budget director for the State of Michigan. “We are taking it very seriously, and we have our agencies preparing contingency plans. But obviously nobody really knows how it’s going to unfold, so you can only plan so much.”

Source: NY Times

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Source: Associated Press