According to Mo. Sen. Roy Blunt the bipartisan “Gang of Six” plan to raise the debt ceiling and cut the deficit by $4 trillion is too complicated to agree on by the Aug. 2 deadline set by the Obama administration.
Speaking with reporters during a weekly conference call, Blunt said he might support a short- term solution to raise the debt limit in order to allow time for a broader plan to be implemented.
“You know I might if there was enough savings associated with it,” said Blunt. “But there’d have to be savings associated with it. And there are plenty of things that the Administration and the Congress could reach agreement on if they were willing to do that. But I wouldn’t accept a short- term increase in the debt limit with no structural change at all.”
The “Gang of Six Plan” is a comprehensive package of spending cuts and benefit program changes, along with an overhaul of the tax code.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate is debating a House “Cut, Cap, and Balance” plan Thursday that would increase the government’s borrowing authority by $2.4 trillion, while requiring Congress to adopt a proposed balanced budget amendment.
Blunt said he has always supported a balanced budget amendment.
“I’m more and more convinced that a constitutional requirement to balance the budget is the only long-term structural reform that will really work,” said Blunt in the weekly call.
Blunt was the original co-sponsor of the legislation.
The Senate is expected to vote on the proposal Saturday. Democrats are expected to kill the measure, which they say would demand debilitating cuts to Medicare.