GOP zeroes in on debt limit debate

Don’t expect Republicans to lay down and support a clean debt-limit increase next year.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said on “Fox News Sunday” that Senate and House Republicans will soon huddle at their party retreats to figure out what Republicans can extract from Democrats in return for raising the debt ceiling next year.

“We as a caucus — along with our Senate counterparts — are going to meet and discuss what it is we’re going to want out of the debt limit,” Ryan said. “We don’t want nothing out of this debt limit. We’re going to decide what it is we’re going to accomplish out of this debt limit fight.”

(Also on POLITICO: Ryan: Boehner 'got his Irish up')

Both Ryan and Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) have said their focus in crafting a budget agreement was on avoiding more government shutdowns, choosing to kick the controversial debt ceiling debate to next year.

One big question mark is when the debt limit needs to be raised. While the Congressional Budget Office has said increased tax revenues in the spring could push the deadline to as late as June, the Treasury Department has strongly suggested the debt limit must be lifted much sooner, perhaps in February or March.

(Also on POLITICO: No Murray-Ryan interview for Fox)

“One of the problems and concerns I have with the debt limit is: We don’t know when it’s going to hit. Jack Lew, the Treasury secretary, has ultimate discretion on when this could occur. So the timing of this is very much in doubt,” Ryan said. “We’re going to meet in our retreats after the holidays and discuss exactly what it is we’re going to try to get for this.”