Signaling that Washington could be faced with another bruising battle over raising the debt ceiling, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, insisted in a speech on Tuesday that any increase in the debt ceiling be accompanied by spending cuts larger than the amount of the increase.
Addressing the Peter G. Peterson Foundation's 2012 Fiscal Summit, Boehner said that the debt limit should be welcomed and not feared, calling it at an "an action-forcing event in a town that has become infamous for inaction."
"When the time comes, I will again insist on my simple principle of cuts and reforms greater than the debt limit increase," Boehner said, according to prepared remarks. "This is the only avenue I see right now to force the elected leadership of this country to solve our structural fiscal imbalance."
He added, "If that means we have to do a series of stop-gap measures, so be it - but that's not the ideal. Let's start solving the problem. We can make the bold cuts and reforms necessary to meet this principle, and we must."
At the same time, Boehner continued to rule out any increases in taxes to address the deficit, claiming that tax increases destroy jobs.
The House Speaker also called for an extension of the Bush tax cuts scheduled to expire at the end of the year and said Congress should focus on "broad-based tax reform that lowers rates for individuals and businesses while closing deductions, credits, and special carveouts."
If Boehner sticks to his guns on the debt limit, it could lead to another Washington stalemate like was seen over the summer.
While lawmakers eventually reached an agreement on raising the debt ceiling, the preceding gridlock was cited as a main factor in the reduction of the U.S. credit rating.
In a statement responding to Boehner's remarks, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., criticized the House Speaker for warning of another debt ceiling showdown even as House Republicans are attempting to sidestep the spending cuts enacted under the previous agreement.
"It is pretty galling for Speaker Boehner to be laying down demands for another debt ceiling agreement when he won't even abide by the last one," Schumer said. "The last thing the country needs is a rerun of last summer's debacle that nearly brought down our economy."
The debt ceiling agreement reached last summer included the creation of the Deficit Super Committee, which was tasked with cutting the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion.
When the committee failed to reach an agreement on reducing the deficit, the agreement triggered across-the-board spending cuts that included domestic government programs as well as defense spending.
However, House Republicans voted last week to shift some of the automatic cuts in defense spending to social programs such as food stamps and Medicaid.
Speaking at the fiscal summit, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner predicted that the debt limit won't need to be raised until early 2013.
However, if the debt ceiling is not raised by then, the U.S. could be forced to default on its obligations.
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