Washington, DC - The Club for Growth today issued the following statement in response to a report in the Washington Post that Speaker John Boehner offered to raise the debt ceiling as part of his ongoing negotiations with President Barack Obama over the so-called “fiscal cliff”: 

“First Speaker Boehner offered to raise tax rates after promising not to, and now he’s offering to raise the debt ceiling. Raising tax rates is anti-growth and raising the debt ceiling is pro-government growth – and this is the Republican position?” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola.  “Raising the debt ceiling would give away one of the best tools the Republicans have in their arsenal to force real reform. The debt ceiling is the only mechanism in law that can restrain spending and hitting it forces Washington to confront its spending problem. Raising the debt limit again simply kicks the can down the road. Instead of raising the debt ceiling, the Republicans should use it to force President Obama and the Democrats to accept structural reforms to entitlements, which are the drivers of our debt.” 

“Our nation can’t afford to keep its addiction to spending another year. Ignoring our spending problem is to ignore reality,” added Chocola.