–Senate Passage of Bill Would Send It To President Obama, Ending Crisis
–Senate Agreement Requires Bill To Secure 60 Votes
–Democratic, Republican Leaders In Senate Speak Confidently About Vote

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid confirmed
Tuesday morning that the Senate will vote at noon on the debt ceiling
package that cleared the House Monday evening.

The Senate has resumed its debate on the bill.

Reid repeated Tuesday morning that under the agreement he reached
with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell the bill must secure 60
votes to pass in the Senate.

Both Reid and McConnell have indicated they are confident they
will get 60 votes to pass the plan.

The House approved Monday the package that was crafted by President
Obama and congressional leaders 269 to 161.

The bill’s passage through the House was widely seen as the bill’s
most serious challenge.

The U.S. has already reached its $14.29 trillion debt ceiling.
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has said that Congress must pass
legislation increasing the debt ceiling by today.

The underlying bill calls for about $1 trillion in spending cuts
that will be implemented over a decade by adjusting discretionary
spending cuts.

The package also calls for the creation of a special congressional
panel to come up with $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction through
entitlement and tax reforms. This package would be submitted to Congress
by the special panel by Nov. 23, 2011 and voted on by the House and
Senate by Dec. 23, 2011.

If this panel, which will be comprised of six Republicans and six
Democrats, fails to agree on a spending cut package, a budget
enforcement trigger would secure $1.2 trillion in budget savings
through across-the-board cuts.

Under the legislation, the debt ceiling would be increased by
between $2.1 trillion and $2.4 trillion.

The debt increase would occur in two steps: by $900 billion
initially and a second increase of between $1.2 trillion and $1.5
trillion depending on the size of spending cuts approved.

Of the first $900 billion increase in the debt ceiling, $400
billion would occur immediately and the next $500 billion would be
subject to a congressional resolution of disapproval. To block the
increase, the resolution would have to be enacted over the president’s
veto, a step that requires two-thirds majorities in both chambers.

The debt limit package also requires both the House and Senate to
vote on a balanced budget amendment by the end of the year. The
specifics of the amendment have not been agreed to yet.

** Market News International Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **

[TOPICS: M$U$$$,MFU$$$,MCU$$$,M$$CR$]