House Republican leaders are expected to unveil a bill raising the nation’s $16.7 trillion debt ceiling Wednesday afternoon.
The bill is likely to tie the debt ceiling hike to a one-year delay for core ObamaCare provisions, such as the individual mandate to buy health insurance. Republicans discussed that delay at a conference meeting Friday.
They are also expected to include a grab bag of other GOP priorities in order to convince members of their conference to agree to raise the debt limit. The hike is expected to be enough to allow the government to keep borrowing money for another year.
By moving to the debt ceiling, GOP leaders appear to hope they can tamp down fervor among rank-and-file members to use a government shutdown to defund ObamaCare.
The government will shut down without a new funding measure on Oct. 1, and the White House and congressional Republicans are not even talking to one another.
