MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Republicans prepared to vote a four-month extension of US borrowing capacity

House speaker John Boehner referred to the provision as “no budget, no pay”

Republican leaders in the US House of Representatives have scheduled a vote on Wednesday on a nearly four-month extension of US borrowing capacity, but the bill does not specify a dollar amount.

Legislative language released by the House Rules Committee said the bill aims “to ensure complete and timely payment of the obligations of the United States Government until May 19, 2013.”

The legislation is a strategic move by House Republicans to avoid a fight over the looming federal debt ceiling and shift their negotiating leverage for spending cuts to other fiscal deadlines. The US Treasury expects to exhaust all remaining power to borrow money under the 16.4 trillion debt limit sometime between mid-February and early March.

The strategy shift, agreed last week by House Republicans at a retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia, aims to draw the Democratic-controlled Senate into taking action to cut deficits by requiring the Senate to pass a budget resolution by April 15. The Senate has not passed a budget in nearly four years.

Under the legislation, if either the Senate or House fails to meet the April 15 budget deadline, lawmakers' salaries would be held in escrow until their chamber passes a budget.

House Speaker John Boehner had referred to this provision as a “no budget, no pay” requirement. But in order to avoid any constitutional violations, the withheld salaries would be released at the end of the current Congress in January 2015.

The legislation temporarily suspends the debt limit and allows the government to borrow as necessary to meet its obligations, including interest payments, until May 19.