Gingrich Vows To Resolve Debt Ceiling

Speaker Newt Gingrich promised Friday to avoid more uncertainty about the nation’s borrowing during the impasse on the federal budget, saying, “We will find a way to take care of the debt ceiling.”

Gingrich, R-Ga., made the comment at a news conference here and left immediately for the next stop on a ten-day GOP fund-raising tour.

The nation’s debt reached the statutory limit of $4.9 trillion on Nov. 15, and since then Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin has avoided defaulting on bonds by borrowing from government pension funds, a practice that does not count against the debt ceiling.

Gingrich also promised to keep the government open. “You may see us pass a continuing resolution every two weeks or every month, to keep the pressure on the president to get to a deal, but never close the government,” he said.

At another point, he said, “I believe now that we are really going to do everything we can to keep the government open,” though at drastically reduced spending levels.

Gingrich defended the two partial government shutdowns. “We really believed we could get to a short-term agreement,” he said, “and it was worth the effort and the difficulties to get to a budget agreement.

“When we concluded that we were not probably going to be able to get to an agreement in a reasonable period of time, we had to dramatically change what we were doing in the House.”