AP
House Republican leadership will call a vote on
a short-term debt ceiling increase that would extend the government's ability to pay its bills until shortly before Thanksgiving.
GOP leaders unveiled a plan Thursday that would add five weeks of borrowing authority for the federal government, which time would allow for negotiations among Republicans, Democrats, and President Barack Obama.
The bill proposed would not end the ongoing government shutdown, which entered its 10th day on Thursday.
"I would hope the president would view this as an opportunity and a good-faith effort on our part to move halfway," House Speaker John Boehner said in a press conference.
Under the plan, the deadline to raise the debt ceiling will be extended from Oct. 17 to Nov. 22. Thanksgiving is the next week, Nov. 28.
It's still unclear whether the plan will earn enough support to pass the House. Boehner will likely have to rely on a bevy of votes from House Democrats.
The White House was not impressed with the plan. Though it didn't threaten a veto of the bill if it came to Obama's desk, a White House official said that any negotiations between Republicans and Obama wouldn't start until Republicans first agree to reopen the government.
The full statement from a White House official:
"The President has made clear that he will not pay a ransom for Congress doing its job and paying our bills. It is better for economic certainty for Congress to take the threat of default off the table for as long as possible, which is why we support the Senate Democrats' efforts to raise the debt limit for a year with no extraneous political strings attached. The President also believes that the Republican Leadership in the House should allow for an up or down vote on the clean continuing resolution passed by the Senate that would pass with a bipartisan majority to reopen the government. Once Republicans in Congress act to remove the threat of default and end this harmful government shutdown, the President will be willing to negotiate on a broader budget agreement to create jobs, grow the economy, and put our fiscal house in order. While we are willing to look at any proposal Congress puts forward to end these manufactured crises, we will not allow a faction of the Republicans in the House to hold the economy hostage to its extraneous and extreme political demands. Congress needs to pass a clean debt limit increase and a funding bill to reopen the government."
