House GOP frosh: Link debt hike to cuts

Any attempt to raise the federal debt limit in the coming weeks must be linked to a solid proposal to rein in federal spending in the long term, four Republican House freshmen said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

"We’ve got to have some guarantees going forward — caps," Rep. Steve Southerland of Florida said.

When host Christiane Amanpour asked if some sweeteners on the spending side would make a debt limit rise palatable, Southerland took a hard line.

"It’s going to have to be a lot more than just sweetening; it’s going to have to be concrete and I’ve yet to see that from the administration," he said.

Rep. Joe Walsh of Illinois repeated a line he's used before, saying that President Barack Obama "ought to be ashamed of himself" for taking a pass on the entitlement issue in February and then suddenly weighing in last week.

"I don’t know why your profession hasn’t gotten on him more," Walsh told Amanpour. "All of a sudden last week he gets a redo? The Republicans are leading on this, perfectly prepared to take political hits we have to take because the crisis is so severe."

Walsh also deflected a question about doomsaying over failure to raise the debt limit by saying the spiraling debt itself should produce more urgency from the Obama administration.

"I wish they got as excited and animated about all this debt we're placing at the feet and on the backs of our kids and our grandkids," Walsh said. "If you’re going to ask this Congress to support a raise in the debt limit, there got to be something structural on the spending side because we’ve got to cut up this credit card."

Republican proposals to force a balanced budget might do the trick, Walsh said. "It’s going to have to be tied to something pretty major like that."

"We should have some type of trigger mechanism so that when you reach a certain percentage of getting close to this debt limit there are automatic spending cuts that come right in," said Rep. Allen West of Florida. Obama has made a similar proposal for a "debt fail-safe," though it would be tied to the deficit-to-gross-domestic-product ratio and the mechanics of the plan have not been settled yet.

West was also critical of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's warnings of catastrophe and economic depression if the debt limit isn't raised.

"I don’t believe in leadership by fear and intimidation," Walsh said. "I think that leaders need to come up with viable solutions."

And Rep. Renee Ellmers of North Carolina disputed a Congressional Budget Office report that found Medicare changes proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) would force seniors to spend an average of $6,000 more per year out of pocket for health care.

"That is not correct," she said. "If we do not address Medicare as it is, it will not be there for myself. It will not be there for our children or our grandchildren. ... The numbers play out and I'm very much in favor of the reforms."