Senate clears debt limit bill, ending fight over borrowing until 2015

By Susan Ferrechio | Washington Examiner

The Senate Wednesday approved legislation to raise the nation’s debt limit, clearing the bill for President Obama’s signature and setting aside the contentious debate over the nation’s borrowing habit until well after the critical 2014 election.

The vote was 55-43 on final passage of the legislation, which suspends the debt limit until March 15, 2015, without any special conditions or amendments. Only Democrats voted in favor of final passage, but in an earlier test vote, 12 Republicans voted to bring the bill to the floor in a 67-31 vote.

Wednesday’s Congressional approval cuts short what many had predicted would be a weeks-long fight over how or whether to raise the debt ceiling, a battle that some feared would have rattled markets by running up against a Feb. 27 deadline set by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. Lew recently warned Congress he would run out of ways to fully fund the government by the end of the month unless he gained congressional permission to borrow more.

at the Washington Examiner.

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