Pawlenty: Boehner's Latest Budget Plan Falls Short

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty says House GOP leaders' latest deficit-reduction plan doesn't go far enough.

Pawlenty says in a statement Tuesday that he favors the plan that would cut spending, cap it and require Congress to pass a constitutional balanced budget amendment.

But the former Minnesota governor says the latest proposal by House Speaker John Boehner "does not accomplish that."

Pawlenty calls the debt limit "a line in the sand where Republicans can force the tough decisions to fix our nation's finances." And he says taxpayers "cannot afford for us to back down now."

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is vying with Pawlenty for the Republican presidential nomination. Bachmann is telling Iowans that she will vote against any measure in Congress to raise the debt ceiling.