The House overwhelmingly passed a bill Wednesday afternoon to allow the federal government to keep borrowing money until the middle of May, as Republicans attempt to defuse the debt ceiling as political issue.
The legislation, which was unveiled last week at a House Republican retreat in Virginia, passed on a 285-144 vote.
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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday the Senate will pass the House bill without changes, noting that the legislation is “clean,” meaning it contains no spending cuts. Republicans spent 2011 insisting on matching the debt ceiling with trillions of dollars in spending reductions.
The White House has said it would not block the legislation from becoming law.
This all means that the nation’s debt limit, once the most potent of political weapons, is off the table until May 18. Republicans hope that this focuses Washington’s attention on replacing the automatic spending cuts that hit the Defense department in March, government spending which expires at the end of March and prescriptions for entitlement reform.
In theory, the bill would also pressure the Senate to pass a budget — something it hasn’t done in several years. Under the legislation, if either chamber fails to pass a budget by April 15, its members will not get paid.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said she will author the spending plan this year. Her House counterpart, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is working on a budget that would balance the nation’s books in the next decade. His last budget came into balance in twice as long.
