13-02-2014, 08:45 AM
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-12...ature.html
Senate Clears U.S. Debt-Limit Boost for Obama’s Signature
he Senate cleared a measure suspending the U.S. debt limit for President Barack Obama’s signature after Republicans dropped demands for policy conditions that in past years risked a potential default.
Today’s 55-43 party-line vote will allow the U.S. to meet its obligations until at least March 15, 2015, more than four months after the November congressional election. The House of Representatives passed the legislation 221-201 yesterday.
“It appears that the things that used to be routine may be routine again,” Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, the chamber’s second-ranking Democrat, said today in an interview at the Capitol before the vote. Republicans “seem to want to be on their best behavior in an election year,” he said.
Obama, saying he was “pleased” by the action, added: “The full faith and credit of the United States is too important to use as leverage or a tool for extortion.”
He also said, in a statement released tonight by the White House, that “hopefully, this puts an end to politics by brinksmanship.”
The legislation’s passage marks a victory for Obama and Democrats who refused to consider Republican demands to combine a debt-limit increase with measures such as curbing Obamacare, approving the Keystone XL pipeline or cutting federal spending.
Business Stability
“We welcome the news that Congress has acted to meet its responsibility” by lifting the debt limit, Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew said in a statement. He said the action “will provide certainty and stability to businesses and financial markets.”
Senate Republicans struggled to round up support needed to advance the bill to the final vote until their top two leaders - - both of whom face Tea Party-backed primary election challenges -- stepped forward to vote “yes.”
After Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Whip John Cornyn of Texas voted to advance the measure, other senior Republicans followed, including third-ranking leader John Thune of South Dakota, Orrin Hatch of Utah and John McCain of Arizona. Twelve Republicans joined all 55 Democrats in the 67-31 procedural vote.
Several Republican senators criticized Texas Republican Ted Cruz for insisting on a 60-vote threshold, saying it put those colleagues in a tough position.
‘Responsible Way’
“McConnell and Cornyn voted in a responsible way under the circumstances,” Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, said in an interview. He said he hoped people would understand that McConnell, in “the toughest Republican race in the country, had the courage to vote the way the vast majority of everybody understood the vote needed to occur.”
Corker questioned Cruz’s decision to force the Senate to require 60 votes, saying that there was “no stated, clear” point in blocking the measure after it passed the House.
Cruz defended his position, telling reporters that “it should have been a very easy vote.”
Senate Republicans should have stood together and and said “we will not go along with raising the debt ceiling while doing nothing to fix the underlying, out-of-control spending problem,” Cruz said. Asked whether McConnell should be replaced as Senate Republican leader, he said that was a decision “for the voters of Kentucky to make.”
McConnell’s opponent in the state’s May 20 primary, Louisville businessman Matt Bevin, sent an e-mail within minutes criticizing McConnell for voting to advance the debt limit increase.
Internet Ad
An Internet ad released today accused McConnell of voting “like a Democrat” on fiscal issues. The ad by the Senate Conservatives Fund, a political action committee founded by former South Carolina Republican Senator Jim DeMint that has helped elect Tea Party-backed senators, pictured McConnell along with Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, told reporters he voted to advance the bill because he “saw politics being played” with the issue and he “didn’t want it to be a political game.”
Although they voted to advance the bill, Cornyn and McConnell opposed final passage.
“Now is hardly the time to give the president carte blanche to continue his spending spree,” Cornyn said in a statement.
Past Confrontations
Since Republicans took control of the House in 2011, raising the debt ceiling led to eleventh-hour showdowns that raised concerns that the government could default on its obligations. In August 2011, January 2012 and last October, the U.S. came within days of a potential lapse in its borrowing authority before Congress acted.
This time, lawmakers are sending a bill to Obama with about two weeks to spare.
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and members of his leadership team were among the 28 Republicans in that chamber voting to suspend the borrowing cap. The speaker’s decision to allow the vote drew ire from groups aligned with the small-government, Tea-Party wing of Republicans.
Reid praised Boehner earlier today, saying the speaker has “one of the most difficult jobs in Washington, especially when you look at the caucus that he has to deal with.”
Republicans’ divisions on spending helped provoke a 16-day partial government shutdown in October. The divide weakened Boehner’s negotiating position with Obama and Reid, who stuck to their refusal to consider conditions for raising the debt limit.
A suspension of the U.S. debt limit enacted by Congress in October expired Feb. 7. Lew said last week that borrowing authority may not last past Feb. 27.
Treasury Bills
Rates tumbled on Treasury bills due on March 6, maturing after the Feb. 27 date on which Lew said the U.S. would exhaust extraordinary measures to keep under the debt limit. The rate fell almost five basis points to 0.005 percent.
Senate passage of the debt-limit suspension delays the need for another increase until mid-2015 because income tax payments will postpone the date when the government exhausts its borrowing authority.
Barring significant economic or fiscal policy changes, a debt-ceiling increase wouldn’t be needed for “at least a few months” after the March 15 date, said Shai Akabas, associate director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington.
Senate Clears U.S. Debt-Limit Boost for Obama’s Signature
he Senate cleared a measure suspending the U.S. debt limit for President Barack Obama’s signature after Republicans dropped demands for policy conditions that in past years risked a potential default.
Today’s 55-43 party-line vote will allow the U.S. to meet its obligations until at least March 15, 2015, more than four months after the November congressional election. The House of Representatives passed the legislation 221-201 yesterday.
“It appears that the things that used to be routine may be routine again,” Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, the chamber’s second-ranking Democrat, said today in an interview at the Capitol before the vote. Republicans “seem to want to be on their best behavior in an election year,” he said.
Obama, saying he was “pleased” by the action, added: “The full faith and credit of the United States is too important to use as leverage or a tool for extortion.”
He also said, in a statement released tonight by the White House, that “hopefully, this puts an end to politics by brinksmanship.”
The legislation’s passage marks a victory for Obama and Democrats who refused to consider Republican demands to combine a debt-limit increase with measures such as curbing Obamacare, approving the Keystone XL pipeline or cutting federal spending.
Business Stability
“We welcome the news that Congress has acted to meet its responsibility” by lifting the debt limit, Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew said in a statement. He said the action “will provide certainty and stability to businesses and financial markets.”
Senate Republicans struggled to round up support needed to advance the bill to the final vote until their top two leaders - - both of whom face Tea Party-backed primary election challenges -- stepped forward to vote “yes.”
After Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Whip John Cornyn of Texas voted to advance the measure, other senior Republicans followed, including third-ranking leader John Thune of South Dakota, Orrin Hatch of Utah and John McCain of Arizona. Twelve Republicans joined all 55 Democrats in the 67-31 procedural vote.
Several Republican senators criticized Texas Republican Ted Cruz for insisting on a 60-vote threshold, saying it put those colleagues in a tough position.
‘Responsible Way’
“McConnell and Cornyn voted in a responsible way under the circumstances,” Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, said in an interview. He said he hoped people would understand that McConnell, in “the toughest Republican race in the country, had the courage to vote the way the vast majority of everybody understood the vote needed to occur.”
Corker questioned Cruz’s decision to force the Senate to require 60 votes, saying that there was “no stated, clear” point in blocking the measure after it passed the House.
Cruz defended his position, telling reporters that “it should have been a very easy vote.”
Senate Republicans should have stood together and and said “we will not go along with raising the debt ceiling while doing nothing to fix the underlying, out-of-control spending problem,” Cruz said. Asked whether McConnell should be replaced as Senate Republican leader, he said that was a decision “for the voters of Kentucky to make.”
McConnell’s opponent in the state’s May 20 primary, Louisville businessman Matt Bevin, sent an e-mail within minutes criticizing McConnell for voting to advance the debt limit increase.
Internet Ad
An Internet ad released today accused McConnell of voting “like a Democrat” on fiscal issues. The ad by the Senate Conservatives Fund, a political action committee founded by former South Carolina Republican Senator Jim DeMint that has helped elect Tea Party-backed senators, pictured McConnell along with Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, told reporters he voted to advance the bill because he “saw politics being played” with the issue and he “didn’t want it to be a political game.”
Although they voted to advance the bill, Cornyn and McConnell opposed final passage.
“Now is hardly the time to give the president carte blanche to continue his spending spree,” Cornyn said in a statement.
Past Confrontations
Since Republicans took control of the House in 2011, raising the debt ceiling led to eleventh-hour showdowns that raised concerns that the government could default on its obligations. In August 2011, January 2012 and last October, the U.S. came within days of a potential lapse in its borrowing authority before Congress acted.
This time, lawmakers are sending a bill to Obama with about two weeks to spare.
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and members of his leadership team were among the 28 Republicans in that chamber voting to suspend the borrowing cap. The speaker’s decision to allow the vote drew ire from groups aligned with the small-government, Tea-Party wing of Republicans.
Reid praised Boehner earlier today, saying the speaker has “one of the most difficult jobs in Washington, especially when you look at the caucus that he has to deal with.”
Republicans’ divisions on spending helped provoke a 16-day partial government shutdown in October. The divide weakened Boehner’s negotiating position with Obama and Reid, who stuck to their refusal to consider conditions for raising the debt limit.
A suspension of the U.S. debt limit enacted by Congress in October expired Feb. 7. Lew said last week that borrowing authority may not last past Feb. 27.
Treasury Bills
Rates tumbled on Treasury bills due on March 6, maturing after the Feb. 27 date on which Lew said the U.S. would exhaust extraordinary measures to keep under the debt limit. The rate fell almost five basis points to 0.005 percent.
Senate passage of the debt-limit suspension delays the need for another increase until mid-2015 because income tax payments will postpone the date when the government exhausts its borrowing authority.
Barring significant economic or fiscal policy changes, a debt-ceiling increase wouldn’t be needed for “at least a few months” after the March 15 date, said Shai Akabas, associate director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington.
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