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House approves $290 billion increase in debt limit
The House on Wednesday passed legislation giving the federal government the ability to borrow a whopping $290 billion to finance its operations for just six additional weeks.Carry that for a whole year and that comes out to another $2,500 billion. It complements 2009's 2,900 billion increase in Federal government debt. That's nearly $10,000 for each man, woman and child. Illegal aliens excepted. The 218-214 vote sends the must-pass bill to the Senate, which is expected to approve it as its last act before adjourning for the year. The alternative would be a market-rattling, first-ever default on U.S. obligations. The measure is needed as a result of the out-of-control budget deficit, which registered $1.4 trillion for the budget year that ended in September. Plus another $1.5 trillion off book debt. Can you say bailouts? The current debt ceiling is $12.1 trillion and is set to be reached by Dec. 31. Democrats had hoped to pass a far larger increase of almost $2 trillion to avoid another vote before next year's midterm elections -- and to wrap the increase into the popular defense appropriations bill to give some political cover. But that plan fell apart amid opposition from about a dozen Senate Democratic moderates, who say they will refuse to vote for a debt limit increase unless it is accompanied by legislation to establish a new bipartisan task force to come up with a plan to curb the deficit. That idea is opposed by Democratic leaders such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Posted by: ed 2009-12-16 |
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