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“Boehner demands ‘trillions’ in spending cuts in exchange for lifting debt ceiling

By Paul Kane and Lori Montgomery, Published: May 9

NEW YORK — House Speaker John A. Boehner defined the GOP’s terms for raising the legal limit on government borrowing Monday, demanding that President Obama reduce spending by more than $2 trillion in exchange for an increase big enough to cover the nation’s bills through the end of next year.

Delivering a sermon on fiscal austerity to a Wall Street crowd clamoring for compromise on the debt limit, Boehner (Ohio) firmly rejected any effort to raise taxes. He also called on Democrats to engage in “honest conversations about how best to preserve Medicare,” signaling that House Republicans remain committed to restructuring at least some portions of the program.

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And for the first time, he signaled that Republicans would come to the negotiating table with the expectation that the White House and Senate Democrats be prepared to discuss major reductions in federal spending — and enact them immediately. That’s a sharp shift from Republicans who just last week talked of finding “commonality” on less-ambitious measures.

“Without significant spending cuts and changes in the way we spend the American people’s money, there will be no increase in the debt limit. And the cuts should be greater than the accompanying increase in the debt limit that the president is given,” Boehner said in an address to the Economic Club of New York at a hotel in Midtown Manhattan. “We’re not talking about billions here. We should be talking about cuts in trillions if we’re serious about addressing America’s fiscal problems.”

The extent of Boehner’s demands was unclear. Aides declined to say over what period the cuts would have to take effect, saying only that they could be achieved on a time frame longer than the life of the debt-limit increase.

Boehner’s terms referred specifically to discussions about raising the debt limit. His speech suggests that Republicans will try to extract as much as they can from that debate, before the parties move on to broader discussions about the nation’s long-term fiscal problems. Democrats had indicated a desire to limit the scope of debt-ceiling talks.

The address comes as lawmakers from both parties are set to meet for a second time with Vice President Biden and other White House officials to try to work out a plan aimed at smoothing passage of a debt-limit increase. The meeting at Blair House on Tuesday afternoon will begin a week-long campaign by the Obama administration to engage lawmakers on the issue. Obama plans to bring all 100 senators to the White House — Democrats on Wednesday, Republicans on Thursday — to begin laying the groundwork for compromise.

The national debt is set to reach its limit of $14.3 trillion within the next week, although Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has told lawmakers that he can keep paying the bills through Aug. 2. The Treasury Department estimates that it will need an additional $2 trillion in borrowing authority to get through the end of next year. Even the relatively austere budget blueprint the House approved last month would require $1.9 trillion in fresh borrowing through September 2012.”