Conrad: Need Short Term Debt Hikes

Politico reports:

With Senate Budget Committee action stalled, Chairman Kent Conrad said Monday that his goal remains to cut projected deficits by $4 trillion over the next decade but Congress may need to raise the debt ceiling in short-term increments before the plan can be put in place by the end of this year.

“In order to have a credible plan completed,” the North Dakota Democrat told reporters, “I can see a circumstance in which there would be some short term [increase in the debt ceiling] so the overall plan can be given the consideration that it deserves.”

“I could see something that carried you toward the end of the year so that the overall plan has a chance to be put in place by the committees of jurisdiction.”

“I will not support any long term extension of the debt without a credible plan to deal with the debt, and by credible plan, I don’t mean on just the spending side of the equation,” Conrad said. He conceded that the chances of his committee acting this week are now “low” but his basic construct of what constitutes that plan has not changed despite continued divisions over how to get there.

“I think it takes something that is a blueprint for where we have to go as a country to get this debt threat off our backs,” Conrad said. “And I believe that is a package of about $4 trillion of debt reduction from what would otherwise occur in the next 10 years.”