As recently as last month, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was pushing for a clean debt ceiling measure. “You don’t have to have a lot of things attached to raising the debt ceiling. You can do that separately,” he told reporters at an April 14th press conference.
Now a House GOP plan to hold a vote on a clean extension of the debt ceiling is coming under fire by Reid. It will send "a terrible message to the international community," Reid said Tuesday.
"They are bringing up something that they know is going to fail," Reid told reporters. "I can't think of a way that is much more irresponsible than bringing up a debt limit extension just to show it can't pass," He later added.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s (R-Va.) office claims that Democrats are being hypocritical to demand a clean debt ceiling extension and then decry Republicans for holding a vote on one.
Over a hundred Democrats signed onto a letter calling for a clean extension of the debt ceiling, in an effort lead by Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.).
It is expected the measure will come before the House next week.
