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Senate Votes

August 2, 2011 by · Comments Off on Senate Votes 

Senate VotesSenate Votes, The Senate voted Tuesday to approve an agreement to raise the federal debt limit at the same time pointing to the growing federal deficits.

The agreement, which passed 74-26, extends the federal debt limit until 2013, while setting the stage for more and 2 trillion in federal budget cuts over the next 10 years.

Speaking on the Senate floor before the vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the vote could prevent a “disaster” for the nation.

However, Reid also expressed dissatisfaction with the product of the compromise offer, saying it was unfair and questioned the insistence by Republicans that no new taxes as part of the budget solution.

“If tax cuts are so bright, the economy should be thriving,” said Reid. “There must be an exchange sacrifice.”

He also called for quick work on several measures to create jobs, including patent law, a bill of roads and clean energy projects.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Said that while cuts in supply does not go far enough were a necessary step in the right direction.

“It does not solve the problem, but U.S. forces have to admit that,” McConnell said, adding that although it was only a first step was “a crucial step” for fiscal health.

U.S. House voted Monday to approve the package by a vote of 269 to 161, the cleaning of the chamber by a wider margin than expected.

The Treasury Department had warned that Congress could against non-payment of bills already approve the U.S. if the debt ceiling was not raised on Tuesday. Obama is expected to sign the bill quickly.

Highlighting the increased difficulty of disputed votes in an era of increased partisanship, the treatment times on Monday appeared in danger of faltering as conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats announced their intention to vote against the measure.

In the end, 174 House Republicans, most of its 239 members, a strong bench, voted for the agreement and joined 95 Democrats in the House, including many Democratic leaders to ensure passage of the measure. However, an equal number of Democrats, 95, and 66 House Republicans voted against the proposal.

In a press conference before the vote Monday, the House of Representatives John Boehner, R-Ohio, and many members of your leadership team praised the agreement as giving the Republicans a majority of their claims in the debate on debt.

The measure provides for discretionary spending cuts of around 1 trillion and over the next 10 years, while the creation of a bipartisan congressional commission of members of the House and Senate to determine a way to cut more and 1.5 billion.

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