Debt Talks Highlight GOP Divisions

By ALISON GENDAR

WASHINGTON - Republicans saved their sharpest barbs for each other today as they handicapped the chances of passing a debt package by the Aug. 2 deadline.

“Currently, there is not a single debt limit proposal that can pass the House of Representatives," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said.

That was a dig at a plan put forth by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, which would have guarantee President Obama the power to increase the government’s debt limit, unless barred by veto-proof majorities.

Such a plan would prevent the country from defaulting on its loans Aug. 2, and politically would mean Obama would catch the flack for raising the country’s debt, not Republicans.

“I refuse to help Barack Obama get re-elected by marching Republicans into a position where we have co-ownership of a bad economy,” Connell said on a radio talk show.

But the measure didn’t gain much traction with either GOP leaders or rank-and-file Republicans.

Freshman Rep. Michael Grimm, R-Staten Island, said unless a debt plan carried substantial spending cuts and structural change, “I can’t raise the debt ceiling.”

“I worked on Wall Street. I know what this will mean - interest rates rise, markets could potentially start to spiral. That’s why we have to get this right, and get a full package of meaningful savings and real structural change,” he said.

And it has to be done fast because House Republicans will not sign-off on a proposal dumped in their laps at 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 1.

“We are not voting on something we didn’t read,” Grimm said. “Let us go through it with staff, call constituents, answer questions, understand it. You are not going to see a midnight vote.”