Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Tuesday, July 19, 2011
(UNDATED) - House Republicans get their chance today to lay out their plan for solving the debt-ceiling stalemate.
The house is expected to pass the "cut, cap and balance" bill, coupling the debt-limit increase with immediate spending cuts, a cap on future spending, and a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget.
All Indiana's Republicans in Congress are cosponsoring the measure except Senator Richard Lugar and Ninth District Representative Todd Young, and Young says he's asked to be added.
Young says it's critical to make "significant" spending cuts to begin to get the debt under control.
He says there's little choice but to raise the debt ceiling, but says "cut, cap and balance" is the only plan he's seen so far that would make serious progress against the long-term problem.
The Democratic Senate is less enthusiastic about the plan, and President Obama warned Monday he'll veto it if it reaches his desk.
The White House calls it "unrealistic" and "an empty political statement."
A coalition of conservative and tea party groups has gone further, gathering signatures on a pledge to refuse to raise the debt ceiling without the elements of "cut, cap and balance."
Signers include Lugar's primary challenger Richard Mourdock and Fifth District Representative Dan Burton.
Five governors have pledged to pressure their state's delegation to take the same stand.
Indiana's Mitch Daniels is not among them.
Daniels says he agrees with the plan's general thrust, but says he's made a practice not to sign pledges committing him to a specific course of action.
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