Reid to Senate Republicans: Filibuster deal in 36 hours or face nuclear option

By Bernie Becker - 01/22/13 04:48 PM ET

The Obama administration officially said Tuesday that it would “not oppose” a House GOP proposal to suspend the debt ceiling until May.

In a formal statement, the administration said that the House proposal would bring unneeded complication and uncertainty to the economy. But the White House added that a short-term solution would give the administration time to work with Congress to stabilize the economy.

“The administration is encouraged that H.R. 325 lifts the immediate threat of default and indicates that congressional Republicans have backed off an insistence on holding the nation's economy hostage to extract drastic cuts in Medicare, education and other programs that middle-class families depend on,” the administration’s statement said.

The statement gives even more momentum to the proposal from GOP leadership after White House press secretary Jay Carney said the administration welcomed the House action and a key conservative group said it would also not oppose the measure. Senate Democrats on Tuesday also sounded open to the House proposal.

In addition to taking the debt ceiling off the table until spring, the House bill would also withhold congressional pay if the House and Senate did not pass a budget by April 15. Republicans in both chambers have long tried to press Senate Democrats, who last passed a budget in 2009, on that issue.

The administration statement reiterated that President Obama would not negotiate on raising the debt limit, even if the debate on the issue was pushed back several months.

“A temporary solution is not enough to remove the threat of default that Republicans in the Congress have held over the economy,” the statement said.

“The Congress should commit to paying its bills and pass a long-term clean debt limit increase that lifts self-inflicted and unnecessary uncertainty from the nation's economy.”

Conservative groups have said that they will push House Republicans to use the upcoming sequester and the expiration of a government funding measure to bring about fiscal restraints.