GOP Whip McCarthy: We're Seeking Alternative Plan

With House Speaker John Boehner’s debt plan that had been slated for a floor vote Wednesday now stalled, Republican leaders in the House are trying to come up with an alternative proposal that will attract more GOP support. They seek bigger spending cuts instead of shrinkage in the debt limit increase, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy told The Hill Wednesday.

Whip Kevin McCarthy

The House honchos are still crunching the numbers, and McCarthy doesn’t know yet when a plan will be presented to members, let alone whether a vote will be taken Thursday. He compared the process with the 2011 budget fray earlier this year, when GOP leaders were able to generate additional budget cuts to persuade doubting members of Congress and analysts at the Congressional Budget Office.

“We’re going to fix it. The one thing you see when you see the score is that the [continuing resolution] what we did, we were able to cut more,” McCarthy said. “That gives us the opportunity to go further.”