Debt-ceiling deadline puts new pressure on Boehner

Ahead of Nov. 5, many Republicans said they would want to secure reductions in federal spending in exchange for voting to raise the debt limit, now at $18.1 trillion. Treasury has used emergency measures to avoid breaching the debt cap since mid-March.

“For the debt-ceiling increase to get a sizable number of Republican votes, it will require spending reductions,” said Rep. Luke Messer (R., Ind.), a member of House GOP leadership.

But lawmakers said it would be very difficult to reach a long-term budget agreement in the next month. Congress this past week passed a stopgap spending bill that expires Dec. 11, but Republicans and Democrats remain at odds over whether to set funding levels above limits established in a 2011 deficit-reduction deal…

“There’s going to be a bipartisan group that raises the debt ceiling is my guess,” said Rep. Bob Dold (R., Ill.), who said he wanted to see an agreement cut “wasteful Washington spending.”