Senate to Vote on Increasing the Federal Debt Limit

While the health care reform negotiations continue, the Senate returns next week and will consider legislation that will raise the federal debt limit above the $13 trillion ceiling the House approved last year. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has not said how much the bill would raise the limit but it is widely expected that a significant increase above the $925 billion passed in the House is needed to avoid another increase before the November mid-term elections. As part of the Senate agreement to consider the debt limit increase, they will vote on a series of amendments, including: one that would block EPA from using the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions; another on the creation of a bipartisan budget commission to recommend spending cuts to Congress; and another that would end the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).