Cruz digs in on debt limit

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) urged his Republican colleagues to dig in for another fight on the debt limit Thursday, as his House counterparts are striking a softer tone.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television, the outspoken freshman senator accused the president of trying to “scare the markets” by warning about the dangers of default. He insisted that the $16.7 trillion borrowing cap should not be raised without “structural reforms” to cut spending.

“The president wants to play games. He wants to scare people because the alternative is to actually start living responsibly,” he said.

Cruz’s fiery comments come as House Republican leaders are giving little sign that their majority will push another major battle over the borrowing cap. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has noted recently that Republicans, bruised after the government shutdown, now face a more limited set of options when considering demands.

House Republicans are currently meeting privately to lay out their legislative strategy for the year, and coming up with a debt-limit approach is a major priority. Currently, Republicans are eyeing limited policy concessions tied to the debt limit, after agreeing to end the shutdown and boost the borrowing cap with effectively no riders.

Boehner has insisted that defaulting on the nation’s debt is not an option, and Cruz agreed. However, Cruz contended that the president has the ability to ensure critical payments are made without further borrowing room by prioritizing payments.

“There are ample revenues to always meet the debt,” he said. “The reason he doesn’t want to is he thinks it’s politically advantageous to scaremonger.”

The White House and Treasury Department, as well as a host of outside experts, have dismissed any prioritization plans as completely unworkable, as the nation’s payment systems are not built to pick and choose what bills are paid.

Nonetheless, the conservative Cruz insisted that Republicans should keep up the fight on the debt limit, which will again become an issue in February.

“I intend to continue fighting as hard as I possibly can to make D.C. listen, to force this town to address the real problems so we can pull back from this fiscal and economic cliff,” he said.

The debt limit is estimated to be hit on Feb. 7, after it was suspended as part of the deal to end the government shutdown. After that, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has said he believes the government will have enough funds to pay all its bills only until the end of the month.

As for his differences with Boehner, Cruz said he was not that familiar with the Speaker.

“To be honest, I don’t really know John Boehner,” he said. “He has his job. I have mine.”

Of course, Cruz did serve as Boehner’s attorney for a brief time in the 1990s, when Boehner, then House Republican Conference chairman, sued Rep. James McDermott (D-Wash.) for allegedly violating wiretapping laws.

“Ted Cruz used to be my attorney a long time ago. A good guy,” the Speaker said on “The Tonight Show” earlier this month.

Cruz did note he was “proud” of his House counterparts for leading the fight over the government shutdown while his Senate colleagues sought a deal.