Hoyer: US Must Raise Debt Ceiling $1.8T

House Democrats are attempting to raise the national debt ceiling by $1.8 trillion to pay for loans coming due next year, despite strong opposition from Blue Dogs, their brethren in the Senate, and the GOP. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said today the move is necessary, and Nancy Pelosi plans to include the measure in a defense spending bill next week. Not so fast, pipes in the varied opposition.

A bipartisan group of moderates in the Senate, led by Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, wants a task force created to manage the deficit, with power to impose tax increases and spending cuts, before they allow the debt to increase. Blue Dogs in the House want a pay-as-you-go law that balances the budget in real time. And the GOP is just going to vote against the defense bill, a risky but principled stand “to point out the excessive spending that's going on,” John Boehner tells the Washington Post. (More debt ceiling stories.)