U.S. postpones vote on Boehner debt ceiling plan
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Xinhua, July 29, 2011
The U.S. House of Representatives Thursday night postponed a crucial vote on the debt ceiling plan put forth by House Speaker John Boehner to avoid default, as GOP leaders were trying to securing enough votes within their party caucus.
Under the newly-modified two-step plan outlined by Boehner, a Republican, the Congress would immediately raise the federal government's borrowing capacity by 900 billion U.S. dollars extending to early next year in exchange for 917 billion dollars in government spending cuts over a decade.
The vote had been scheduled for Thursday evening, but GOP leaders said there would be no vote for the night as they were still struggling to line up enough support for the bill.
Republicans control 240 out of the 435 House seats, but they still have a hard time to reach the threshold of 217 votes needed to pass the deal with some party members still opposed to the Boehner plan.
The bill would tie the second tranche of debt limit raising to the creation of a new bipartisan congressional committee to adopt more debt reduction moves next year.
"This is a challenging time for our country. Americans are worried about their job. They're worried about our economy. And they're worried about our debt," Boehner told reporters Thursday.
"The bill is not perfect... What this bill reflects is a sincere, honest effort to end this crisis in a bipartisan way, to send it to the Senate where it can receive action," Boehner said.
The U.S. federal government's borrowing limit, currently at 14.29 trillion dollars, was reached on May 16. The Treasury Department said the nation would begin to default without an agreement to lift the limit by Aug. 2, as it would run out of maneuvering room to pay its bills.
White House spokesman Jay Carney Thursday said that the Boehner bill could not pass the Democratic-controlled Senate and would be "dead on arrival".
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Senate would vote on the Boehner bill as soon as the House finished its voting and that it would be defeated in his chamber.
