Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) characterized the GOP’s new plan to raise the debt ceiling as a political ploy on Friday, calling on Republican leaders to allow a clean debt ceiling increase as soon as possible.
“Sadly, with today’s proposal we see a continuation of putting politics before policy, which the Republican majority pursued with a vengeance in the last Congress,” he said in a statement. “To my knowledge, no responsible Republican leader believes that default will be anything other than disastrous.”
The statement by Hoyer, the House Democratic Whip, signals that Republicans may have a difficult time of passing key legislation, such as a debt ceiling vote, under a comfortable majority of Democrats. The vote for the fiscal cliff bill, under a tight Jan. 1 deadline earlier this year, passed with an overwhelming majority of Democratic votes.
