WASHINGTON (AP) — With tacit support from President Barack Obama, House Republicans were moving Wednesday to try to defuse a potential debt crisis with legislation to prevent an economy-rattling fiscal crisis for at least four months.

The GOP legislation marks a tactical retreat by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who is eager to avoid a potential first-ever default on U.S. payment and debt obligations as he wrestles with Obama and his Democratic allies over taxes, spending and the deficit.

Wednesday's legislation would give the government enough borrowing leeway to meet three months' worth of obligations, delaying a showdown next month that Republicans fear they would lose.