Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee, on Thursday charged House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) with "threatening" the credit of the United States and trying to drag Congress into another fight over raising the debt ceiling.
"I don't know why the Speaker of the House wants to replay this movie," Van Hollen said on CNN’s “Starting Point.” "It didn't have a good ending the last time around, and it probably won't have a good ending this time around if he continues to draw lines in the sand."
On Wednesday, President Obama and Boehner clashed at a White House meeting, where the Speaker said he was "not going to allow a debt-ceiling increase without doing something serious about the debt," calling for any increase to be matched by spending cuts.
The pledge is similar to the argument Republicans made last summer during a protracted political debate over the debt ceiling linked to a subsequent downgrade in the U.S. credit rating by firm Standard and Poor's.
The White House and Democrats are warning that Boehner wants a repeat of last summer's standoff, and linking any possible consequences to his actions.
“You have to ask the Speaker of the House whether or not he intends or he believes that it is the right thing to do for the American people or the American economy to play chicken with the full faith and credit of the United States of America,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said at his daily press briefing on Wednesday.
Republicans argue that the important issue is confronting the debt and deficit now rather than later, using the debt ceiling cut-off as leverage to force Congress to tackle federal spending.
Van Hollen also attacked House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) budget proposal, which House Republicans have adopted as their own, saying Boehner's "own budget violates the rule that he laid out there" because the proposal includes raising the debt ceiling.
Paul's budget plan also includes significant cuts, more than $5 trillion more than President Obama's budget proposal, and reduced federal spending starting in 2013.
