TREASURIES-Prices ease on U.S. debt ceiling proposal

* Republicans propose short-term raise of the debt ceiling

* German investor sentiment rises sharply in January

* Japan to buy assets starting in 2014

NEW YORK, Jan 22 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury debt prices eased on Tuesday as a strong German market sentiment survey and a U.S. Republican proposal for a limited rise in the debt ceiling curbed demand for safe-haven assets.

In Washington, Republican leaders in the House of Representatives said they aim to pass a measure on Wednesday that would allow the government to borrow the money it needs to pay its bills for nearly four months more, to May 19.

Investors had worried that fighting over the debt ceiling could force the U.S. to delay payments on its debt.

However, beyond the debt ceiling, other fiscal deadlines loom, including a March 1 launch of automatic spending cuts and a March 27 expiration of funding for government agencies and programs.

"The worst fears of a disorderly default in early March won't come to pass apparently," said William O'Donnell, head of U.S. Treasury strategy at RBS Securities in Stamford, Connecticut.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes were trading 9/32 lower in price to yield 1.87 percent, up from 1.84 percent late Friday. The U.S. Treasury market was closed on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Germany's ZEW analyst and investor sentiment survey beat expectations with a sharp rise for the second month in a row, in a sign the euro zone crisis is no longer hitting Europe's largest economy as hard as in late 2012.

The rise in yields on Tuesday was limited by an announcement by the Bank of Japan that its open-ended commitment to buy assets would only kick in next year, disappointing those who expected more aggressive measures.

Thirty-year Treasury bonds were trading 20/32 lower in price to yield 3.06 percent, up from 3.03 percent late Friday.