From the desk of Edward E. Cambas.
After a grinding week of negotiations in the House of Representatives, the chamber's GOP majority finally approved Speaker John Boehner's plan to increase the nation's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling just ahead of the the Aug. 2 deadline for its expiration. And in short order, the Democratic-led Senate voted to table the House-passed measure in favor of a proposal advanced by Senate majority Leader Harry Reid. The Senate's maneuver now sets up a House vote over the weekend on the Reid proposal--and a fresh round of battling in Congress.
The final vote on the Boehner plan was 218 members--all Republicans--voting for the bill, with 210 against. Passage of the Boehner plan came a day after House leaders had originally intended to hold a vote on the measure--and after several days of intensive lobbying and arm twisting by Republican lawmakers.
Faced with the threat that Republican leaders wouldn't be able to secure enough votes within their caucus, the party postponed the floor vote until House leaders could convince enough of their own to come on board. After several failed attempts to bargain with the remaining holdouts, Boehner on Friday morning offered an amendment in return for Republicans support that would allow for a vote on a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
It worked.
Even the most hardline Republicans left a closed-door meeting with the caucus Friday morning with the announcement that they had changed their minds and would support the Speaker's plan.
The bill would raise the federal debt limit by about $900 billion in return for $917 billion in across-the-board reductions in projected government spending. The measure would force Congress to vote again on the debt limit in six months, setting the stage for yet another national debate over government spending and debt. Republicans needed 218 votes to pass.
Senate Democratic leaders vowed before the vote that the bill would collapse in the upper chamber.
"Boehner's bill dies tonight," House Majority Leader Harry Reid's spokesman Adam Jentleson announced on Twitter Thursday afternoon when it was thought the House would vote on the bill in just a matter of hours. "Forever."
Sure enough, just hours after the Republican bill cleared the House Friday, the Senate voted to table Boehner's bill with plans to move toward a debt ceiling package proposed by Majority Leader Harry Reid.
We hope that this problem can be taken care of quickly and efficiently.
The final vote on the Boehner plan was 218 members--all Republicans--voting for the bill, with 210 against. Passage of the Boehner plan came a day after House leaders had originally intended to hold a vote on the measure--and after several days of intensive lobbying and arm twisting by Republican lawmakers.
Faced with the threat that Republican leaders wouldn't be able to secure enough votes within their caucus, the party postponed the floor vote until House leaders could convince enough of their own to come on board. After several failed attempts to bargain with the remaining holdouts, Boehner on Friday morning offered an amendment in return for Republicans support that would allow for a vote on a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
It worked.
Even the most hardline Republicans left a closed-door meeting with the caucus Friday morning with the announcement that they had changed their minds and would support the Speaker's plan.
The bill would raise the federal debt limit by about $900 billion in return for $917 billion in across-the-board reductions in projected government spending. The measure would force Congress to vote again on the debt limit in six months, setting the stage for yet another national debate over government spending and debt. Republicans needed 218 votes to pass.
Senate Democratic leaders vowed before the vote that the bill would collapse in the upper chamber.
"Boehner's bill dies tonight," House Majority Leader Harry Reid's spokesman Adam Jentleson announced on Twitter Thursday afternoon when it was thought the House would vote on the bill in just a matter of hours. "Forever."
Sure enough, just hours after the Republican bill cleared the House Friday, the Senate voted to table Boehner's bill with plans to move toward a debt ceiling package proposed by Majority Leader Harry Reid.
We hope that this problem can be taken care of quickly and efficiently.
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