Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The U.S. Senate just voted to approve the federal debt ceiling bill approved by the House on Monday. It now goes to the president for his signature. Senate Clears Debt Deal : Roll Call News:
The Senate passed the $2.1 trillion budget package Tuesday on a 74-26 vote, capping months of grueling partisan wrangling that brought the nation to the brink of a historic default on its obligations.
The final vote came with little of the drama that marked the last few weeks of negotiations that blew up again and again. However, the vote came just hours before the Treasury Department had warned the U.S. would default on its debt. The House passed the measure Monday, 269-161.
Of the 74 supporters of the bill, 46 were Members of the Democratic Conference and 28 were Republicans. Six Democrats, 19 Republicans and Democratic-leaning Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) voted against the deal.
Many Republicans chalked up the deficit reduction deal as an opening victory in their quest for smaller government, and it came despite having a Democrat in the White House and a Democratic majority in the Senate.
The "Septuagenarian Ninja Turtle" Mitch McConnell issued this threat:
McConnell said the debate will be a template for all future debt limit hikes.
“Never again will any president be allowed to raise the debt ceiling without being held accountable for it by the American people,” he said.
Translation: I will hold the president, the Congress and this nation hostage to extortionary demands for our radical extremist agenda. Bwaahahaha!
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hailed the bill as a compromise that would help reduce the deficit and stabilize the economy, but he expressed regret that Republicans would not consent to any tax increases as part of the package.
“The richest of the rich … contributed nothing to this,” he said, and he expressed hope that a new joint deficit reduction committee set up by the legislation would rectify that.
That committee cannot simply include spending cuts without revenue, Reid warned.
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For many liberals, the bill was too bitter a pill. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said Republicans used “extortion” to get Democrats to agree to the plan. He said it failed to take on any of the tax breaks that benefit the wealthy or corporations.
Conservative Republicans, meanwhile, complained the package left almost all of the cuts to 2013 and beyond — effectively leaving it up to the next Congress and the president.
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The backloaded nature of the deal also came under fire from GOP conservatives, considering more than 98 percent of the claimed savings would come after next year’s election. The $21 billion in deficit reduction over the first year of the agreement would cover less than a week’s worth of borrowing, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said.
Republicans and Democrats alike also complained about the two-step nature of the deal, with a $917 billion agreement to slice spending over the next decade now and another $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion to come later from the new joint committee by Thanksgiving.
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[W]ith the deal done, the larger sense in both parties is one of relief. The debate over the debt ceiling had brought the nation’s other business to a virtual standstill.
And the bill effectively includes a budget for appropriations bills for fiscal years 2012 and 2013, potentially smoothing the way for Congress to avoid another bruising shutdown showdown before the election.
Silly media villagers. Political extremism is the new normal. You know what they say: Never negotiate with terrorists. It only encourages them. That die has been cast.