Lieberman Threatens "No" Vote On Debt Ceiling

By Mario Trujillo

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) warned on Thursday that he would not vote to increase the debt limit in the coming months without debt reductions attached to it.

At a press conference announcing his support for the Commitment to American Prosperity (CAP) Act, which would restrict federal spending to 21 percent of GDP by 2015, Lieberman acknowledged using the debt limit as leverage is risky, but said it would be worse to do nothing.

“We will not vote to increase our government’s ability to borrow hundreds of millions of more dollars to pay off our growing debt unless something is done at the same time that is real tough to guarantee that our debt will begin to be cut,” Lieberman said.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner estimated the limit would be reached by May 16. Lieberman said it would be near impossible to broker a deal with the nuance of the GOP budget, the President’s vision and the President’s debt commission proposal before time runs out.

Instead, he said that something similar to the CAP Act could make it through the Congress in time — a bill that sets the goal of reducing the debt but not the means to get there.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) one of the original co-sponsors wouldn’t commit to voting against the debt limit without something like the CAP Act attached to it. But she did say “playing chicken” with the U.S. economy would be unwise. McCaskill has voted against increasing the debt limit prior to the current debt ceiling debate. 

Two other Republican co-sponsors — Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) — vowed to oppose a debt limit increase without serious reforms. According to the Senators’ offices, the CAP Act would save $7.6 trillion over 10 years.