U.S. Senate Kills House Debt Limit Increase, Advancing Own Plan
Seeking a compromise with just four days left before a threatened government default, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid offered a revised plan to increase the U.S. debt limit that includes a Republican proposal to provide the boost in two separate installments.
Reid put forth his revamped plan after the Senate tonight swiftly rejected House Speaker John Boehner’s measure that also would have raised the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling in two steps - - while conditioning the second boost on enactment of a $1.8 trillion deficit-slashing law and congressional passage of constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget.
The House measure would set up a second debt standoff, just as 2012 election campaign was intensifying, if Congress failed to meet those conditions. That is opposed by President Barack Obama, who has made extension of the debt ceiling beyond the campaign his bottom line in endgame negotiations.
The Treasury Department has said Congress must raise the debt limit by Aug. 2 to avert a default.
The Senate voted 59-41 to table Boehner’s plan, just hours after the House approved it by a party-line vote of 218-210. No Democrats supported the House’s plan, and 22 Republicans, including 11 first-term House members, opposed it. The Republicans opponents viewed it as not tough enough in revamping the government’s finances.作者: 何鸿燊 时间: 2011-7-30 00:02
