(Bloomberg) – Sen. Ted Cruz vowed today to use a debate over raising the federal debt ceiling as leverage to extract a new round of U.S. spending cuts, even as House Speaker John Boehner told reporters that defaulting would be "the wrong thing" for the country.
Cruz, the Texas Republican who led the fight to defund Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that contributed to a 16-day partial government shutdown in October, said he wouldn't give in to Democratic demands to raise the debt limit without conditions.
"We should not raise the debt ceiling without significant structural reforms that address the out of control spending and out of control debt in Washington," Cruz said at a Bloomberg Government breakfast. "The debt ceiling is the natural lever point to address the out-of-control spending and debt. It has historically been the most effective lever point to doing so."
Cruz, 43, attracted national attention in September when he controlled the Senate floor for 21 hours, arguing against Obamacare, and at one point reading Dr. Seuss's "Green Eggs and Ham" to fill time. Cruz is a leading voice among lawmakers aligned with the small-government Tea Party movement.
Cruz's comments came as Boehner, an Ohio Republican, refused to say whether House Republicans would seek to attach spending reductions to a debt-ceiling increase.
'Wrong thing'
"We believe that defaulting on our debt is the wrong thing," Boehner said today. "We don't want to do that. And so we're going to have a conversation this afternoon about the way forward on this issue."
House Republicans are holding a policy retreat in Cambridge, Md., today and tomorrow to plan their strategy for raising the federal borrowing cap four months after a dispute over funding the government brought the U.S to the brink of default.
Oregon Rep. Greg Walden said today that Republicans have been chastened by the shutdown fight.
The party has "to be very thoughtful about our approach and make sure that whatever lever you think you're grabbing actually is connected to something in terms of its power and that you aren't going to be forced to let it go at some point," said Walden, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm for House Republicans.
Borrowing limit
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has said Congress should raise the debt ceiling as soon as possible, and that the U.S. will reach its borrowing limit by late February.
President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada have said Democrats won't accept any conditions on raising the debt ceiling.
