Reps. Allan West (left), John Boehner and Michele Bachmann aren't in lockstep on the topic. | AP Photos Debt ceiling a major test for GOP

Days before Republicans take control of the House, the debate over whether to raise the debt ceiling continues to loom over the nation’s capital.

Congress is probably months away from being required to vote on increasing the nation’s ability to borrow money, though officials in Washington are already positioning themselves for the upcoming fight – with some lawmakers signaling they’d oppose the measure, others saying they aren’t sure and the Obama administration predicting dire results if the ceiling is reached.


The vote, which could come at the earliest in March, is a prime example of where rhetoric might meet reality for newly elected House Republicans. Refusing to increase the country’s borrowing capability was a major theme during the 2010 election season, as conservative Republicans promoted their deficit-hawk views by vowing to oppose measures that would allow the Treasury to borrow beyond the $14.3 trillion ceiling Congress set in 2010.

Shortly after the election, incoming House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he “made it pretty clear to [newly elected Republicans] that, as we get into next year, it’s pretty clear the Congress is going to have to deal with it.”

“We’re going to have to deal with it as adults; whether we like it or not, the federal government has obligations and we have obligations on our part,” he said. “And so we’ll have a long time over the coming months to discuss that issue and how we might move such an issue, but those conversations haven’t started yet.”

Two newly elected Republican members of the House differed Sunday morning on whether they’d vote for the measure. Rep.-elect Allen West of Florida, a favorite of tea party activists, said he doesn’t think the nation will default on its obligations, but that his vote to raise the debt limit would be tied to whether Congress tackles some other fiscal issues.

“The only way that I would ever support raising the debt limit [is] if we also talk about budgetary controls on the federal government [by] capping its spending [and] how do we deal with the Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid problems, because they cannot continue to run on autopilot,” West said on “Fox News Sunday.” He added, “I'm not going to write a blank check as far as raising the debt limit without us also saying we're going to do these things to make ourselves fiscally responsible.”

Rep.-elect Mike Kelly, the Pennsylvania Republican who defeated Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper in the state’s vast 3rd District, said “raising the debt ceiling ... is absolutely irresponsible.”

“We've been spending money for so long that we don't have and [we] keep saying, "Well, it's OK; we'll just raise taxes; we'll find it somewhere,” Kelly said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Some Democrats are joining in the uncertainty game. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, a lawmaker close to her party’s leadership, said on CBS that she would “wait and see the direction that the Republicans want to take -- take our policies.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) left decidedly less wiggle room. Appearing on CBS with Wasserman Schultz, Kelly and Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), the chairwoman of the House tea party caucus said “at this point, I am not in favor of raising the debt ceiling.” She noted that her political action committee has a petition online to “urge their member of Congress not to raise the debt ceiling because the Congress has had a big party the last two years.”

“They couldn't spend enough money,” she said on “Face the Nation.” She added, “And now they're standing back, folding their arms, saying, oh -- taunting us, ‘How are you going to go ahead and solve this big spending crisis?’”

But the White House seems to have a different view. Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the administration’s Council of Economic Advisers, said the debt ceiling is “not something to toy with." If Congress doesn't let the Treasury borrow more money once the ceiling is reached, it would “be the first default in history caused purely by insanity,” Goolsbee said.

“That's the -- the -- if we hit the debt ceiling, that's the -- essentially defaulting on our obligations, which is totally unprecedented in American history,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.” He added, “The impact on the economy would be catastrophic. I mean, that would be a worse financial economic crisis than anything we saw in 2008.”