GOP Leaders Won't Raise Debt Limit Unless Trillions Are Cuts

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told reporters Wednesday that it’s going to take trillions — not billions — worth of spending cuts to win Republican support for raising the national debt limit.

After House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) established trillions as his party’s baseline during a speech Monday evening, Cantor hammered home the point during a news conference this morning.

“We are about accomplishing major spending cuts,” Cantor said. “It is trillions, not billions, that we are talking about and it’s pretty obvious why we’re saying that we’ve got a $1.6 trillion deficit this year alone—anything less [in cuts] is not serious.”

Cantor was mum regarding details of yesterday’s meeting with Vice President Joe Biden and others, but said the Blair House talks are currently revolving around how much in spending cuts lawmakers and the White House can agree to.

“The substance of those discussions was trying to focus in on areas where we can cut spending and cut it big,” Cantor said. “We are anticipating returning to the Blair House again tomorrow and you know there’s a lot of work to be done.”

Following Cantor, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said that not one Republican in the House will vote on a “clean” bill to raise the borrowing limit.