GOP Caves on Debt-Ceiling Fight

Retreat! Retreat! House Republicans are backing off of their hardline stance on the federal debt ceiling, agreeing at a closed-door retreat on Friday to offer a three-month extension of the government’s statutory borrowing limit without the attached spending cuts they had previously demanded. There is one catch, though: the deal comes with a demand that Senate Democrats pass a budget on time. “Furthermore,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor ominously warned, “if the Senate or House fails to pass a budget in that time, members of Congress will not be paid by the American people for failing to do their job. No budget, no pay.”