Senate Democrats Who Back Keystone Rebuff Debt-Limit Linkage
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Some Senate Democrats who back the Keystone XL Pipeline are rebuffing plans by House Republican leaders to attach approval of the project to a measure suspending the nation’s debt ceiling, a sign the Republican strategy could falter.
House Republican leaders say they’ll introduce legislation this week that suspends the U.S. borrowing limit for one year, while attaching some spending cuts and policy provisions that include authorization of the $5.3 billion pipeline project. Treasury Department Secretary Jacob J. Lew told House Speaker John Boehner in a letter today that measures to avoid breaching the nation’s $16.7 trillion debt ceiling will be exhausted on Oct. 17.