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WASHINGTON — Gang of Six, meet the Gang of New York.
Nearly every New York Democrat in the House marched together into Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s office yesterday and threatened to revolt against a proposed debt-limit deal that would unleash deep cuts on New York’s teaching hospitals, The Post has learned.
The uprising came a day after President Obama embraced the plan by the Senate’s bipartisan “Gang of Six” as the last, best hope to get major budget reforms included in a deal to increase the $14.3 trillion debt limit by an Aug. 2 deadline.
The unexpected opposition from New York Democrats illustrates how hard it will be for Obama to get a major deal with just 12 days before the deadline, when the United States faces credit default.
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With the talks bogged down, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Obama would be willing to accept a short-term increase to the debt limit — but only for a day or two to put finishing touches on a major bargain.
The New York Democrats, meanwhile, balked at speculation that the deal would cut as much as $1.2 billion a year in Medicare funds for New York teaching hospitals, according to estimates by the Greater New York Hospital Association. That would be a 57 percent reduction.
“New York really has the potential here to get screwed,” said Rep. Eliot Engel (D-Bronx), who organized the delegation meeting with Pelosi.
“We served notice on Pelosi that we are not going to support this,” Engel said. “This would mean tremendous cuts in health care services in New York and massive losses of jobs . . . I’m determined to beat it back.”
Pelosi promised the New York lawmakers that she would convey their concerns to Obama, Engel said.
Later in the day, Pelosi was at the White House when Obama met privately with Democratic and Republican leaders to restart debt talks and seek new common ground with the Gang of Six proposal.
Pelosi told the president that House Democrats still support his push for a “grand bargain” that doesn’t balance the budget on the backs of seniors with cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, a Democratic aide said.
The Gang of Six plan includes both tax hikes opposed by Republicans and changes to Social Security and Medicare that Democrats oppose, a combination that Obama prefers and calls “balanced.”
“We need to meet, talk, consult, narrow down what our options are and figure out, in fairly short order, which train we’re riding into the station,” Carney said.