Only 4 House Republicans Say They Would Support “Clean” Debt-Ceiling Hike

With the CBO warning that the Treasury is on track to run out of cash in less than four months, Republicans are facing a difficult internecine struggle to raise the debt limits as both conservatives and moderates demand riders that stipulate how the money can be spent. And while the Trump administration has sought to play down this conflict, as the Hill reports, support for a ‘clean’ debt-ceiling hike – that is, raising the debt ceiling with no strings attached – is dwindling as only a handful of the 16 remaining House Republicans who backed the last clean hike say they would back another. Yet, though Democratic support for a clean bill is far from assured, the Republicans’ much narrower majority in the Senate increases the likelihood of a clean hike.
Only 16 House Republicans who are currently in office backed the last ‘clean’ debt hike, and few of them will say they are certain to support it this year. If the debt ceiling is raised with a clean hike – a distinct possibility given Democratic demands and the narrow, 52-seat majority for the GOP in the Senate, Republicans will need at least 24 members of their own conference to back a clean debt bill in the House.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Jul 3, 2017.