House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA), after initially declaring the GOP’s debt limit plan “unconstitutional,” clarified to TPM late Friday that he “strongly support[s]” the proposal, which would withhold lawmakers’ pay if their chamber does not pass a budget.
He said he believes the constitutional questions over the 27th Amendment, which Republican leadership aides say won’t be a problem, will be resolved in the legislation.
“I strongly support the House Republican leadership’s proposal to link the debt ceiling increase to passage of a budget by the Senate which has gone 1360 days without passing a blueprint for federal spending,” Issa said in a statement to TPM sent via his office. “While the 27th Amendment prohibits Congress from varying its own pay within a given Congress, as I noted in my interview it can certainly withhold pay. I have not read the legislative text of the ‘No Budget, No Pay’ proposal and how it approaches historically difficult questions about Congressional compensation. I would note that there has even been legal action taken challenging the current system that gives Members of Congress an automatic pay-raise. I have been an advocate for the strategy of linking a debt ceiling increase to passage of a budget as an effective way of forcing President Obama to focus on our nation’s long term fiscal situation. I expect the final proposal brought before the House will have resolved any constitutional questions and that it will have my support.”
Earlier Friday, Issa told Roll Call of the proposal, “That’s unconstitutional.”
