Below is from my FNC colleague Chad Pergram:
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Cantor announces House won’t tackle next debt ceiling increase until January 17 “at the earliest”
Per Pergram-Parliament Hill (as in Ottawa)
Fox has obtained a memo sent to House rank and file members, explaining how and when the House will tackle the issue of raising the next request to hike the debt ceiling.
In the memo, sent by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), the GOP brass explains that the president must make the next request and has not yet done so. The law (which is the Budget Control Act, which raised the debt limit in August and creaated the supercommittee) asks that the Congress act on the debt limit request within 15 days. But because there has been so request thus far, Cantor indicates that there will be action on this until January 17 at the earliest.
Memo below:
Under the terms of the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA), the President was able to request two separate increases in the debt limit. The first installment of $900 billion was requested in August, $400 billion of which went into effect immediately and the final $500 billion of which was enacted following House and Senate votes on resolutions of disapproval in September. The House approved a resolution of disapproval while the Senate did not, thereby allowing the entire $900 billion increase to go forward.
The President is soon expected to request the second and final increase in the debt limit available under the BCA—an increase of $1.2 trillion. The process for the President’s request, and our subsequent legislative response, is outlined below:
· The President submits a written certification to Congress that the debt is within $100 billion of the limit.
· 15 calendar days after the President submits written certification to Congress, the debt limit is automatically increased UNLESS there has been enacted into law a resolution of disapproval.
· The BCA provides expedited procedures for the consideration of a resolution of disapproval in each House.
· The resolution of disapproval is subject to Presidential veto, but can be overridden by a 2/3rds supermajority vote in each House.
Once the President submits a written certification to Congress, we will be able to determine an appropriate timeline for the House’s legislative response. However, we do not expect the 15 days to expire prior to the start of the Second Session of the 112th Congress. Therefore, legislative action will not occur until Tuesday, January 17th, at the earliest.
Chad Pergram
FOX News
Senior Producer
U.S. House of Representatives
