Boehner Talks Debt Limit in NYC

Politico reports:

House Speaker John Boehner will step up his efforts Monday to lay out a strategy for raising the debt ceiling to a crowd heavy on Wall Street players who are anxiously watching the fierce debate over the debt ceiling unfold.

In a speech to the Economic Club of New York in Midtown Manhattan, the Ohio Republican is set to reiterate to leading financial executives that he believes that reforming Medicare should be part of negotiations in raising the debt ceiling, saying that there needs to be “an honest conversation,” because the program is on an “unsustainable path if changes are not made,” according to sources familiar with the speech. Boehner also is expected to advocate for immediate cuts rather than deficit and debt targets preferred by some Democrats.

After his talk, Boehner will take questions from two prominent Wall Street players at the intersection of Washington power: Peter G. Peterson, the private-equity giant who worked for President Richard Nixon, and Observatory Group CEO Jane Hartley, who worked for President Jimmy Carter.

The speech coincides with the start of public posturing between House Republicans and Democrats in Congress and the White House over raising the debt ceiling. With a class of debt-averse Republican freshmen threatening to vote against raising the borrowing limit, Boehner must reassure the financial sector that Congress won’t rattle markets and send the fragile economy into a tailspin.

At the same time, Boehner must not appear to sell out members of his conference, many of whom won election running against raising the debt limit and want changes to entitlement programs.

Boehner’s public insistence that reforming Medicare stay a part of debt ceiling negotiations could reaffirm a concern among Wall Street types that Republicans are driving a hard bargain on the limit and will take the negotiations up to the last minute. Boehner said last week Congress must now cut trillions, not billions.

But it could reassure markets and financial players that the GOP is taking seriously — at least with words — the need to do something about the nation’s fiscal situation, even as the 2012 presidential election looms. But in the speech, Boehner is not expected to say specifically that Medicare reforms must be part of any deal.