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December 25, 2009 in Nation/World
Congress OKs raising U.S. debt ceiling
$12.4 trillion limit good till February
WASHINGTON – The Senate voted Thursday to raise the government debt ceiling to $12.4 trillion, a massive increase over the current limit and a political problem that President Barack Obama has promised to address next year.
The Senate’s rare Christmas Eve vote, 60-39, follows House passage last week and raises the debt ceiling by $290 billion. The vote split mainly down party lines, with Democrats voting to raise the limit and Republicans voting against doing so. There was one defection on each side, by senators whose seats will be on the ballot next year: GOP Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio and Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana. Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., did not vote.
“I would not support raising the debt ceiling because Congress has not adopted a credible process to restrain spending and eliminate red ink,” Bayh said a statement after the vote.
The bill permits the Treasury Department to issue enough bonds to fund the government’s operations and programs until mid-February. The Senate will vote again on the issue Jan. 20.
Obama must sign the measure into law to prevent a market-rattling, first-ever default on U.S. obligations. The government piled up a record $1.4 trillion deficit in 2009 to counter a meltdown in financial markets and help bring the nation out of its worst recession in seven decades.
The early-morning vote followed the Senate’s passage of a landmark bill to overhaul the nation’s health care system. They were the Senate’s last votes of the year.
With the exception of Voinovich, Republicans uniformly derided the bill, though they routinely supplied votes for eight previous increases totaling $5.4 trillion under President George W. Bush.
Voinovich, who is retiring, said he voted “yes” after Majority Leader Harry Reid agreed to consider amendments when the Senate takes up the matter again next month. Bayh told the Senate Budget Committee in November that he would oppose an increase in the limit unless Congress commits to a strict new debt-fighting plan.
© Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Obama honors Medal of Freedom recipients as heroes 
liarsinnews on December 25 at 7:31 a.m.
Damn fools.
Ninch on December 25 at 8:51 a.m.
So Obama and family are in Hawaii for his “traditional” Christmas. Sorry excuse for a holiday. Made sense when his ailing grandma was alive, but no justification now….While millions of Americans are unemployed and having great difficulty in making ends meet, Obama and his large staff have spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to fly to Hawaii and rent a multimillion dollar beach house. Nothing green or debt-conscious about that decision.
What is wrong with spending Christmas at the Obama Chicago mansion anyway? Why don’t they ever visit that place they once called home? I remember how so many hate-filled liberals derided Bush’s Crawford Ranch as his presidential escape, yet it was built as a “green” (sustainable) retreat. (It was also outfitted for White House business, unlike Hawaiian beach houses.) In his behavior, Obama has NO credibility on anything remotely considered energy-conserving or sustainable. No wonder he flopped in Copenhagen again. Obama always lectures on what others should do, but he never acts in a way to back up his words.
Obama is so out of touch that he still relegates jobs creation and reigning in the U.S. debt to afterthoughts (after Obamacare and cap-and-trade) with only promises to do “something” after the first of the year with some kind of big push at his State of the Union speech at the end of January or beginning of February. Why he has waited an entire year to address the issues that mean the most to Americans is beyond comprehension.
BTW: The debt ceiling will have to be raised again in 2010, because even if Obama et al finds anything to cut in the federal government it will be as piddly as his 2009 attempts (e.g. using both sides of a sheet of paper when making copies)… and no cuts would take effect until the next fiscal budget year (beginning October 1, 2010). ALL of Obama’s policies require expanding the federal government and are spending dependent. All legislation in the liberal Democrat-controlled Congress require expensive bribes to get enough votes.