No GOP votes for ‘clean’ increase in the debt ceiling, House whip says

A bill to raise the debt limit without spending cuts attached would not get a single Republican vote in the House, the GOP’s top vote-counter said Wednesday.

“I can tell you as the whip, there is not one Republican vote on a negative-debt-limit bill where no cuts are proposed,” House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters at a news conference.

{mosads}While Republicans have demanded significant spending cuts and budget reforms in exchange for authorizing more U.S. borrowing, a majority of the House Democratic caucus has called for a “clean” debt ceiling vote, saying the GOP is holding hostage the full faith and credit of the federal government.

Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Tuesday the party was still considering holding a clean vote as a way of demonstrating it doesn’t have majority support in the House.

Cantor on Wednesday provided few details of the debt talks he attended at the Blair House, led by Vice President Joe Biden. The group will meet again on Thursday.

“The substance of those discussions was trying to focus in on areas where we can cut spending and cut it big,” Cantor said.

He reiterated the demand by Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) that accompanying reductions be in the trillions of dollars. “Anything less is not serious,” Cantor said.