House Republicans agree to vote on bill to raise debt limit for 3 months WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Scaling back their ambitions in the latest fight over the nation's borrowing limit, House Republicans said Friday that they will try to pass a bill next week to raise the limit for three months. But they warned that the Senate must work with them to pass a budget deal during that time before they would agree to raise the debt ceiling for the long term. Under the bill, Congress would increase the debt limit through mid-April - long enough, House Republicans say, to give both chambers time to pass a budget agreement. Turning up the pressure on the Senate, the measure would withhold Congress's paychecks if either chamber fails to adopt a budget by April 15. Elizabeth Colbert-Busch will run as a Democrat for appointed Sen. Tim Scott's (R-S.C.) old House seat. In a speech to House Republicans at a Virginia retreat on Friday, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said that a long-term increase in the borrowing limit would require a budget deal. "We are going to pursue strategies that will obligate the Senate to finally join the House in confronting the government's spending problem," Boehner said during the closed-door retreat at a golf resort in Williamsburg, Va. The principle is simple: No budget, no pay. Weigh in on the GOP's proposal to raise the debt ceiling for three months in The Washington Post's new discussion forums. This latest tactic indicates that Republicans are groping for a more pragmatic approach to the coming fight over the issue, which they fear will greatly damage the GOP if the government defaults. Congress needs to raise the $16.4 trillion debt ceiling by the end of February or early March or the United States will not be able to meet its obligations to its creditors. But the strategy faces an uncertain future with President Obama and Democratic lawmakers, who fear that dragging out the debt ceiling fight into the spring would inject new and harmful uncertainty into the economy. "The President has made clear that Congress has only two options: Pay the bills they have racked up, or fail to do so and put our nation into default," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement Friday. We are encouraged that there are signs that Congressional Republicans may back off their insistence on holding our economy hostage to extract drastic cuts in Medicare, education and programs middle-class families depend on. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) responded that it was "reassuring to see Republicans beginning to back off their threat to hold our economy hostage." Spokesman Adam Jentleson said the Senate would "be happy to consider" an increase in the debt ceiling that arrives without conditions. He did not address how the Senate would treat the House's proposal to tie member pay to the passage of a budget. What we're saying is: Pass a budget. To the Senate. We'll move the debt ceiling for the short term," Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), the House's third-ranking Republican, told reporters. We'll see what your budget is. We'll do our budget - so we can put us on a path towards a balanced budget," he said.