FBN’s Charlie Gasparino reports Republicans in the House of Representatives have planned a series of temporary debt extensions if the debit-limit talks stall, which include 48-hour and 72-hour debt-cap extension plans. Excerpts from the report can be found below, courtesy of Fox Business Networks.
On the Republican contingency:
“If it goes that far, and remember Treasury Secretary Geithner has said August is the drop dead date…but if we come to that, house Republicans do have a contingency plan. This is being talked a lot on Capitol Hill in the recent weeks as the talks have stalled. The contingency plan is pretty simple, a series of temporary extensions if this impasse persists. The Republicans are discussing something like a 48 hour, 72 hour debt cap extension as they obviously debate and argue and try to come to a consensus on cuts.”
On Republicans believing they have the “upper hand” politically:
“Remember the Republicans are really adamant about this debt ceiling increase being sort of linked to pretty big cuts. They really believe they have the upper hand politically on this. But you can’t go into default as you’re doing that. So this is the plan as I understand about if we get that far.”
On House Speaker Boehner’s push to finalize the plan this month:
“Speaker Boehner has said that he wants to get the debt cap thing done this month, so we might not go there. But if we do go there, that’s the plan, the plan is temporary extensions.”
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