Speaker's debt-ceiling plan comes under fire

WASHINGTON  House Republican leaders said Tuesday they will rewrite their plan to raise the debt ceiling after a review said it would not meet its savings targets. The late afternoon decision came after a day of attacks on the bill from GOP conservatives and Democrats.

Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., told USA TODAY Tuesday afternoon that the time for bargaining had run out and that plan issued by House Speaker John Boehner would be the best option to avoid default.

"We don't like the fact that we can't get our way here but the reality is that we control one of a three-part puzzle here," Cantor said. "I think that as far as holding out for a better deal there is no time … unless you are going to accept (default) which to me is unacceptable."

A review released Tuesday afternoon by the Congressional Budget Office said the bill would only reduce the deficit by $850billion over 10 years, or $1.1 trillion assuming that current spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continues.

Boehner had said the plan would cut $1.2trillion in spending over 10 years and raise the debt ceiling by $1trillion. It would also create a commission to identify more spending cuts to be made once the debt ceiling needs to be raised against in six months.

The CBO review meant House staff members had to start "looking at options to rewrite the legislation to meet our pledge," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for Boehner. "We're here to change Washington — no more smoke-and-mirrors, no more 'phantom cuts,'" Steel said. "We promised that we will cut spending more than we increase the debt limit — with no tax hikes — and we will keep that promise."

The bill is expected to go to the floor for a vote Thursday in order to give the measure enough time to get through the Senate before the Aug. 2 deadline.

House Republican leaders plan to hold a closed-door meeting with members this morning — the third in as many days and an indication that the votes are tight.

Tuesday began with a warning from Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who chairs the House Republican Study Committee. "I am confident as of this morning that there are not 218 Republicans in support of the plan," he said.

Jordan said he won't support Boehner's plan because the congressional commission created by the bill could eventually recommend higher taxes as part of future budget-balancing measures. Jordan's group has 170 conservative House Republicans.

But leadership's message was clear, said Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., who added that he was still undecided. "I think a lot of the message was … we need your votes."

Tea Party favorite Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., said he plans to support the bill even though he was not completely satisfied with it. "This Boehner plan, does it have everything that I want in it, absolutely not," he said. "But … it does not have any tax increases, it does not give the president a complete raising of the debt limit (which) are two very important things for me."

Three options remain, Cantor said, for a debt-ceiling deal: default, the House Republican plan and another proposal by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "We still have work to do, sure," Cantor told USA TODAY, noting he did not have the list of members where leaning "no" on the bill.

Cantor said he noted over the last week that fewer Republicans believe that Aug. 2 is an artificial date to raise the debt ceiling.

Believing the Aug. 2 date is real is no guarantee of a yes vote, said freshman Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz. He wanted a balanced budget amendment attached to the debt ceiling bill. "I'm still leaning no," he said.

Some conservative congressional Republicans continued Tuesday to question whether the government would necessarily default even if the debt limit isn't increased. Obama's claims of default are "scare tactics … meant to intimidate congressional Republicans into voting for the package the administration wants," said Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa.

Toomey is pushing a bill that would require Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to pay bondholders, Social Security recipients and active-duty military personnel first in case Congress doesn't authorize him to borrow more money.

White House press secretary Jay Carney countered that Toomey "is simply wrong."