House Republican leaders say the talk of needing a short-term deal is premature. On Tuesday the House passed its "cut, cap, and balance" bill, which solves the problem, they say.
“The House has already voted to raise the debt limit, it’s called the cut, cap, and balance,” says Michael Steele, a spokesman for Speaker John Boehner.
The bill, which passed the House on a nearly party-line vote, 234 to 190, proposes cutting $111 billion in 2012, capping government spending at less than 20 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, and passing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.
The Democrat-controlled Senate takes up the measure in an unusual Saturday debate, but the president has pledged to veto it
