Boehner, Pelosi Grapple Over Renewed Debt Limit Brinksmanship

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In back to back press conferences Thursday morning, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and House Speaker John Boehner traded barbs about the GOP’s plan to reignite the debt limit fight this winter.

“To toss this into the mix right now…is really immature, irresponsible. Let’s get serious,” Pelosi told reporters. 

“We know the end of the year’s coming,” Boehner said. “And we know what’s gonna happen. And if we don’t use this opportunity to increase the debt limit and make real changes in how we spend the American people’s money, we’re missing a golden opportunity…. When the President told me yesterday that he wanted a clean increase in the debt limit, it almost took my breath away.”

As we’ve reported, Boehner’s plan has a flaw — the debt ceiling likely won’t need to be raised until after the end of the year. Confronted with that fact, Boehner tacitly acknowledged that he probably can’t force the issue before the end of the year as a means of preventing the Bush tax cuts from expiring.

“It would be nice to do them in some logical order and with enough time for members and the American people to understand exactly what it is we’re doing,” he said. 

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