U.S. Senate Rejects Boehner's Plan

Los Angeles Times...

Breaking News...

30 July 2011 - 7:30PM PT

No Senate vote on debt ceiling tonight
Los Angeles Times | July 30, 2011 | 7:30 p.m.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Saturday delayed a test vote on the Democratic debt limit increase plan until 10 a.m. PDT Sunday to give negotiators more time to work out a deal.

More at http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-debt-impasse-20110730,0,166771.story.

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He stuck his neck out a mile....and there wasn't a guillotine in sight and breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe next time boner, maybe next time.

I believe that the Tea Party folks in the house DO NOT KNOW THEIR ASS FROM THEIR ELBOW!. They really think that a default is no problem and they do not care if they force one. So get ready it's going to be fun the only consolation is that the rich who created these idiots are going to be right there with us. They put them in office and now they can't control them.

This is all show, they are plying good cop bad cop and are after our (Social Security) retirement money. Social Security supposes to have $2.6 Trillion Dollars surplus but politicians (Republicans and Democrats) use the money for other programs than our retirement. Now Obama is going to cut our Social Security benefit which did not cause the deficit.
They are basically raising Taxes on Middle Class by cutting our Social Security and Medicare (cutting our benefits and giving us less of our money that we put in to the system is same as taxing us), but they are not closing the tax loopholes for the Super Rich and corporations.
Obama can sign an executive order invoking the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling. But he is not doing that because he wants to reduce our Social Security benefit. Obama with the help of Republican and Tea Party are not talking about Corporate Welfares and super Richs taxes any more only cuts which come from our SS is on the table. Getting rid of tax loopholes and taxing the super rich is out. After Bush, Obama, Republicans and Democrats give our money to Big Banks, Wall Street and Super Rich and made the greatest transfer of wealth to the top that this country has ever experienced and raised the deficit now they are telling us we do not have any money and they have to cut all our safety nets.
The Super Rich and Big Corporations, with the help of Corporate owned Republicans and Democrats, (Yes REPUBLICANS and DEMOCRATS) are giving tax cuts and tax loopholes to the rich and corporations. They are not only not paying taxes, they are getting REFUNDS (Corporate Welfare). GE which made Billion of Dollars in 2010 not only did not pay almost any taxes but got $3.5 Billion refund and Obama asked his CEO to help him get rid of regulations to help Corporations more. Oil Companies are receiving $10 billion refunds every year.
Obama is wolf in sheep clothing. So far he done exactly opposite of his campaign promises or he did not do what he told us during his campaign. President Obama is worse than any Republican Presidents. Republican Presidents could not pass this give away Health Care to Insurance companies that Obama passed, or touched OUR Social Security or Medicare, Democrats would stop them but this Trojan Horse is passing these awful legislations and Democrats is not doing anything.
Politicians and Major Medias which owned by Big Corporations are just putting a show for us again.
What a joke.

...bloody hell, my eyes are hangin' out of their sockets watchin' all this from down under...all this bloody "perimeter pissin'"...and stubborness by "cry me a river"...sure hope it gets sorted, EV...the world is on tenderhooks...

Remember this. this crisis was also caused by the likes ot The Coch brothers, Dick Armey and his bunch of billion dollar ass hats and the great
Turd Blossom and the rest of the billion dollar ass hats as well as many other traitors who are afraid to show their faces.
The Tea baggin fools are being taken for a ride because those ass hats don't care about any tea baggin pol because they can be bought and sold any time.

Did he cry? I did hear him quiver. My goodness.He stuck his neck out.He sure did,
but not with the minority party.He is pissed that he now has to deal with these psychos. I don't like giving good advice to the republicans but in this case we all benefit so here it goes. "It 's so easy a republican do it.", cave men nearby may explain, if they don't understand. Tell those tea party folk, "Go and have intercourse with yourself.

Boehners panicked speech was my favorite hissy fit to date. I was hoping for tears..but, they might be yet to come. The Senate is attempting to pass a bill that is acceptable to D's and R's alike. The problem still being the 'Alice' mad hatters tparty in the house. Nothing will pass thru the house..nothing. The question will be..will Obama drop the 14th to save us from ourselves?...Or does the house realize what a mockery they've made...and bend to the will of the majority?...or does it stay the spurned bully and blow rasberries at everyone who does not agree with him?

A panicked, desperate looking man comes thundering at top speed into a small village in the country. He wheels his mount to a halt just in front of a small, curious group of men. The out-of-breath rider says to the villagers, "have you seen a large, unwashed mob and if so which way did they go?" The villagers say no, they haven't, but ask why he would go in search of such a thing. "I must find them," says the rider. "I am their leader."

good . he has dangerously stupid ideas for the nation .

Why in the world do we expect our politicians to fix the debt crisis when its these very same politicians who created it in the first place?

Who benefits if the US defaults? One result will be higher interest rates. Who benefits from higher interest rates?

I don't think I have ever seen such an appropreate analogy for current events then, 'rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic'!
The poor, the old and the sick are the ones locked below decks while the first -class are still ordering drinks in the lounge!

This is a smoke screen for something else....our government can not be trusted and will stoop to deceitful tactics ...something isn't right with this dog and pony show!
Ridiculous conditions to live under, this is far beyond any reasonable debate the two side should have ...these people are disgusting.

Public Citizen Email...

Washington is in the grip of a fever. It’s hard to find a word other than lunacy to describe what’s going on.

We are veering toward potential economic catastrophe.

And Congress is hung up on a debate that shouldn’t be occurring. It is debating an imaginary problem that conjures scary future scenarios but ignores dire existing circumstances. The consensus proffered solution to the imaginary problem would damage our country and further weaken our economy.

Democrats and Republicans are at loggerheads, but they are disagreeing primarily about how much harm they want to impose. That’s a very consequential disagreement, but it ignores the fact that we don’t need to impose any harm at all.

Let’s correct some of the upside-down components of the current debate.

1. There should not be a debate over increasing the nation’s debt ceiling.

Prior approval of increases — more than 100 — have been routine, and this time should be no different. Raising the debt ceiling merely authorizes the U.S. government to make good on spending previously authorized by Congress.

It is true that Republicans in Congress signaled some time ago that they would not easily agree to another increase in the debt ceiling. That’s why Democrats should have passed an increase in the last Congress, a move they declined to make because of fear of electoral consequences. At very least, the administration should have insisted on increasing the debt ceiling as a condition of agreeing to the December 2010 deal to extend the Bush tax cuts.

2. The government should be running larger, not smaller, deficits.

The country has not recovered from the Great Recession. One in six people who would like a full-time job are unable to find one. We don’t have to worry about hard times coming sometime in the future — we are living in hard times right now!

To fuel a stalled economy and put people back to work, the U.S. government should be spending more money. This is basic Keynesian economics. It shouldn’t be controversial.

State governments are starved for cash, and laying off thousands of teachers, librarians, fire fighters and police. If the federal government gave the states block grants, they could keep people employed, and keep delivering needed services. Our country, and our economy, would be stronger.

Much of the country is suffering through a summer of staggering heat waves. This should be an urgent reminder of the need to take radical action to mitigate catastrophic climate change. Especially with so many people out of work, the government should be spending money to employ people to retrofit buildings around the country and to invest in R&D on solar and wind energy.

And, of course, there is no shortage of other pressing needs to which people can be put to work.

By contrast, cutting spending right now will worsen our very severe economic crisis, and push more people out of work.

3. Our economic problems are present, not future.

It is both bewildering and unconscionable that pontificating politicians and pundits express so much concern for imagined future economic problems while ignoring the real and present suffering that pervades the country.

There is also some very fuzzy math that takes over the discussion. If it continues to grow economically, and if it makes wise investments, the country is going to be significantly richer in the years and decades ahead. We’re not going to be poorer, irrespective of the size of the national debt.

4. It’s actually not very hard to find a few trillion dollars.

To say that the debt ceiling debate shouldn’t be taking place, and that we should be running larger deficits, is not to say there aren’t appropriate areas of the budget to cut, and appropriate revenue streams to tap.

On the spending side, among many other things, we could:

Save more than a trillion dollars over 10 years by ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Cut more than $500 billion from the Department of Defense budget by replacing private contractors and eliminating weapons systems the Pentagon says it does not need. Hundreds of billions of more in savings are available through modest cuts at DoD. The United States would still have, by far, the world’s largest military. A very modest proposal from the Congressional Progressive Caucus totals $2.3 trillion in savings over 10 years through ending the wars and cutting the Defense budget.

Save more than $150 billion in pharmaceutical costs just by negotiating better prices with Big Pharma. More aggressive moves to fix the broken pharmaceutical development system could offer savings far larger, with the government obtaining a significant portion of well over a trillion dollars in savings on pharmaceutical expenditures over 10 years.

On the revenue side, among many other things, we could:

Tax Wall Street speculation and raise between $1 trillion and $1.5 trillion over 10 years.

End offshore tax haven abuses, and raise a trillion dollars over the next decade.

Close corporate tax loopholes. By way of illustration, getting rid of just two large breaks, deferral of overseas revenue and accelerated depreciation, would raise about $700 billion. The Treasury Department lists $365 billion in corporate tax breaks being gifted annually — that’s $3.65 trillion over the 10-year period talked about in these debt debates! Thanks to all the loopholes and escapes, corporations are benefiting from record low tax rates — 21% on average (this is what they are actually paying, not the nominal rate). For a handful, the tax system is a source of revenue. Citizens for Tax Justice looked at 12 major companies that together made $171 billion in profits from 2008-2010 and found that the dozen companies together paid negative $2.5 billion in taxes, thanks to $62 billion in tax subsidies.

Tax capital gains as ordinary income, and raise $1 trillion.

Many of these and other sensible budget ideas are included in the Congressional Progressive Caucus’s People’s Budget.

A key thing to keep in mind about all these savings and increased revenue is that they should be ploughed back into public investments and public priorities. We need more net spending, not less. Over time, we need to reduce the deficit, but much of that will occur automatically, as the country moves back to fuller employment and more robust growth.

We do not need to touch, nor should we touch, Medicare or Medicaid. Nor should we tamper with Social Security, which is financed separately from the rest of the federal budget and has nothing to do with the debt.

It’s impossible at this point to know how the debt ceiling debate is going to play out. It’s also highly uncertain what happens if the U.S. government defaults — catastrophe may follow, or it may not.

What is certain is that irrationality is ruling the day.

It’s past time to leave behind this orchestrated and false crisis. Our country faces a legion of real and serious problems. It’s time we got to work taking them on.

Onward,
Robert Weissman
President, Public Citizen

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/30/opinion/its-up-to-the-senate.html?hp

The New York Times...

Editorial...

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July 29, 2011

It’s Up to the Senate

It was hard to imagine that the House bill to raise the debt limit, and slash and burn the economy, could get any worse. But on Friday it did.

The bill, which narrowly passed the House with 218 Republican votes and none from Democrats, would allow the government to keep borrowing only until November or December and then require both the Senate and the House to pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution before the limit could be raised again.

That’s right, in a bid to win over his recalcitrant caucus, Speaker John Boehner agreed to go through all of this again in just a few months — and then hold the country hostage to passing an amendment that will never get the two-thirds of each chamber that it would need. The bill was, as it should have been, promptly dismissed by the Senate.

Now the only hope left for avoiding default on Tuesday is for the Senate to piece together a compromise that can pass with bipartisan majorities in both chambers. It will undoubtedly cut far too much, at a time when the economy can’t afford it. It will contain no needed revenue increases and could still trigger a downgrade. But it would eliminate the imminent threat of financial chaos.

For six months, House leaders catered to their Tea Party members, perhaps hoping that they could turn them to a reasonable path, or at least count on their votes in a clinch. That wish crumbled on Thursday night. At least two dozen Republicans, mostly freshmen, adamantly refused Mr. Boehner’s pleas to support his bill — his last shot at keeping the House’s positions relevant.

Instead of worsening the bill, Mr. Boehner could have negotiated with Democrats to construct one with a chance of resolving the standoff and passing in the Senate. But concerned largely with preserving his position, he gave in to the very lawmakers who have been insisting for weeks that the Obama administration is lying about the coming default. That argument alone should have given him pause about giving in to their demands.

The Senate quickly tabled the revised House bill. The legislation being prepared by Harry Reid, the majority leader, would raise the debt ceiling through March 2013. That avoids another showdown, and potential meltdown, in the middle of the crucial retail shopping period and at the start of the presidential campaign cycle, when Washington will be even less open to rational compromise.

The bill would cut the deficit by about $2.4 trillion over the next decade. Unlike the House bill, it spares Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security from benefit cuts, and counts the drawdown of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan as part of its savings, easing the burden on domestic programs. Unfortunately, it surrenders to the unrealistic Republican demand of no new revenues, cutting too much spending at a time when the economy is still in serious need of government help.

Mr. Reid is negotiating with Republicans on their demands for an enforcement mechanism to make sure the deficit cuts take place in the later years of the deal. Both parties envision a bipartisan panel that could recommend cuts; if those are not adopted, some kind of automatic cuts would go into effect. This automatic knife can be dangerous, arbitrarily cutting without regard to economic circumstances. Democrats should insist that taxes and revenues are not ruled out as a way to lower the deficit.

The House planned a deliberately obstructionist vote on Saturday against the Reid bill, but some Senate Republicans are signaling they are willing to agree to this more reasonable framework. If enough of them can join the Democrats and ignore the bleats of the Tea Party, it may still be possible to avert calamity.

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Now what?

The scariest thing on the news today, and there were many, was video of the teabaggers in D.C. This bunch of ignorant raving lunatics have got every single thing one of their beliefs 100% wrong!

Here are few key ones:

1. Tea fiction: They believe that Obama is solely responsible for the current debt problem. Truth: Obama has only spent about 1.3 trillion on the recovery act, about 7.5 trillion was spent by Bush II. We were making more money than we were spending under Clinton and if left alone his polices would have erased the current debt by now.

2. Tea fiction: Raising the debt limit is giving Obama a blank check to spend even more money. Truth: completely incorrect, The governments monthly revenue from taxes and other sources is only $175 billion, the current bills it pays out which was determined by congress over the last 100 yrs comes to about $302 billion a month, and includes social security, medicare, medicaid, veterans pay, military contractors, paying the interest on the debt, pay to military personnel and their families etc etc. All raising the debt limit does is allow us to pay bills we have already promised to pay and NOT for any new spending.

3. Tea fiction: That over spending is the sole reason we are in debt and not taxes. Truth: Its just the opposite its a reduction in income from taxes which are lower now than they have been in decades that has caused a loss in revenue along with a slowed economy. And again the only over spending was done by Bush II.

4. Tea fiction: its ok to default it wont be the end of the u.s. economy. Truth: this is wrong, This will cause our credit rating to drop for the first time in history raising interest rates on everything including mortgages, car loans and credit cards. It will probably remove the dollar for the first time in history as the currency the world uses and replace us with China as the number one country. And will throw the economies of 3/4 of the world into a spin causing a global depression the likes of which we have never seen. And a side note NONE repeat NONE of the GOP debt bills will prevent this default!

5. Tea Fiction: Reverting taxes to a previous higher level will mean taxes will be higher for all including the teabaggers. Truth: Again totally false, Before Reagan Taxes on the very rich were as high as 50% now they are only 18% for the very rich I mean those that make over $250,000 a year, and including those that make millions or billions, but for the middle class working people their rate is 29%!! This means that most employees pay almost twice what their boss does in taxes!! All the Democrats are trying to is allow the Bush II tax cuts to expire this will affect only those making over $250,000. Everyone else's taxes will NOT repeat NOT increase!

And what is more scary than the fact I have just pointed out here that the teabaggers are completely 100% wrong in every way about what they believe? Is that most of the new GOP republicans are in their pockets and are so afraid of their "masters" that got them into office that they either believe all these insane lies or are just going along with it. And are willing to do so to the point of taking the whole country and the world down with them.

Why did this happen? I think its because the real people in power the billionaires are using the moronic teabaggers because they too do not want to pay more for taxes and dont care about the poor or if the poor are living the gutter with no social systems that were put in place after the last depression to offer some humanity to the suffering.

Clearly the American experiment is in jeopardy of failing this week for the first in a threat greater than 9/11, WWII, the great depression, WWI, the civil war, because as Lincoln said, "if destruction be our lot, it must come from within". Ironically it may be the 14 amendment created in Lincoln's time to protect the union from those within it trying to destroy it that might just save us at the final hour if Obama is courageous enough to invoke it.

A great many of the very people who are in D.C. and are running our government are guilty of treason against the Constitution.

Now we have to wait for McConnell to have his little temper tandrum saying he will not negotiate with Reid, only the President. What nerve the GOP have. In the meantime he has said he will fillibuster Reid's bill, which Reid changed to include things McConnell wanted. I say make him actually fillibuster. Make him stand in the Senate and speak until he his hoarse. Then threaten the nuculear option like the GOP did in order to get Roberts confirmed to the Supreme Court. The nuculear option will then prevent the Senate from ever fillibustering again. Maybe if they actually used it they could get something done to put the country back on track before it's too late.

The GOP holding the country hostage until they get their way is treason and against the Constitution, which they so love to quote. You cannot use these tactics and it is time the Democrats start playing hardball and call these traitors out for what they are.

I don't know about the rest of you but I am sick to death of having this minority faction in the country called the 'tea party' holding the country and virtually the world hostage to push their own extreme right wing agenda. In a democracy majority rules not minority.

McConnell said that the GOP's number one priority this year is to make Obama a one term President. If the American voters rewards the GOP in 2012 for these tactics then the country will lose. It will lose medicare, medicaid, and social security, because they have been trying to kill them since they were enacted. So if you care about these programs remember what they will do it they regain power in 2012.

Reid is completely right. The republican plan if approved as it is, will dismantle medicare, medicaid, and social security. I voted for the democrats to STOP this criminal agenda. Do not cave in!!. even if we go on default. if this happens even the corporations and rich people are going to pay more in interest and their profit will go way down. At the end everything of this is worth it to preserve those programs!!.

The Romans would have called it XIV...

So not What Happen, How did we get here. Why is there so much gridlock in Washington, This is not what I voted for. I voted for the President because he said that: he would change Washington, He would have an open government, he would create jobs and get America back to work and reduce the unemployment rate, he has done nothing that he said.
Well there is only one answer to all of this, that will explain to the common thinking man or woman, where and when the problem started.

Mitch McConnell said to the National Journal's Major Garrett on Oct. 29, 2010: "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president." his single most important goal is to guarantee a one-term Obama presidency

Unquestionably this has been the goal of the Grand Obstructionist Party (GOP) from the very first day of the Obama presidency. At every turn, the Republican Party, which is now tantamount to the Conservative Party, has blocked, obstructed and otherwise sought to ensure that President Obama would fail. Rabid radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh said as much. And, to galvanize Conservative opposition to the President’s health care reform bill, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint openly urged his colleagues to make this issue Obama’s “Waterloo.”

And, to galvanize Conservative opposition to the President's health care reform bill, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint openly urged his colleagues to make this issue Obama's "Waterloo." So with the rank and file marching alone in lock step has tried to block, hamper, hold up jobs bills in the house,(you see they want the economy to stay bad, at the expense of American workers. But its not just Obama its also the right wing agenda, of "Starve The Beast", They see for the first time they have a chance to cut Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security and win more elections by busting the unions making it harder for the elderly and young to vote. etc,etc,etc

So, lets not ignore the . 2-ton Elephant in the white house, would things be any different if another democrat would have won the election. Sorry but America is not ready

Good! The Senate did the right thing.

Way to go Senate!!!!

Reject, before it even get to the door, GOOD!

Boehner, however, argued this week that Reid's plan fails to tackle popular entitlement programs such as Medicare, which are among the biggest drivers of the debt.

Mr. Boehner, you LIE like a rug -- the biggest drivers of the debt are
1. those idiot flokking bank bailouts (like a total of 16 trillion since 2008)
2. those idiot flokking wars
3. the SHRUB'S idiot flokking tax breaks for those floks that don't need them!

Uh, power to the peons because WE wouldn't fuck up this country the way you idiot flokking politicians have!

Senate Quickly Kills Boehner Debt Bill

The New York Times...

Senate Quickly Kills Boehner Debt Bill

Jewel Samad/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Speaker John A. Boehner left the Capitol after voting in the House Chamber.
By CARL HULSE, MICHAEL D. SHEAR and ROBERT PEAR
Published: July 29, 2011

WASHINGTON — House Republicans muscled through a revised debt limit plan without a single Democratic vote on Friday night and the Senate quickly killed it by tabling the bill indefinitely and moving to start consideration of a Democratic plan to avoid default.

Philip Scott Andrews/The New York Times

The move now sets up an uncertain 72 hours as the Congress moves ever closer to the Tuesday deadline when the Treasury Department says the country will default on its financial obligations without an increase in the debt ceiling.

Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, said he intends to start the legislative clock ticking on Friday on a new plan to raise the debt ceiling, though it was also possible to allow time for negotiation.

The two votes came about 24 hours after the first Republican proposal backed by Speaker John A. Boehner stalled. On Friday, the House voted 218 to 210 in favor of a revised plan that would increase the federal debt ceiling in two stages, with the second installment of $1.6 trillion contingent on Congressional approval of a Constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget. The Constitutional amendment provision was added to attract conservatives who balked Thursday.

“To the American people, I would say we tried our level best,” Mr. Boehner said as he concluded a debate that had been abruptly halted Thursday evening. “We tried to do our best for our country, but some people still say no.”

Although 22 Republicans opposed the bill, it cleared the House after it had appeared for a time on Thursday night that the Republican leadership had been thwarted in its efforts to send a take-it-or-leave-it offer to the Senate.

After a caucus meeting to round up the votes needed for House passage, Mr. Boehner agreed to modify his plan, which raises the debt ceiling only enough to last a few months. Senate Democrats have taken up a measure of their own, which would raise the debt ceiling until after the election, and prepared for debate and possibly votes on it over the weekend.

The changes by Mr. Boehner won enough votes to allow him to pass his bill with only Republican votes, including those of many, but not all, from the Tea Party faction. Urging its passage, an emotional Mr. Boehner angrily accused President Obama and his Democratic allies of negotiating in bad faith for weeks and called the bill the only way to “end this crisis now.”

“All they would do was criticize what I put out there,” Mr. Boehner said, his voice rising during a rare appearance on the floor. “I stuck my neck out a mile to get an agreement with the president of the United States. I stuck my neck out a mile. I put revenues on the table.”

He added: “A lot of people in this town can never say yes.”

The vote brushed aside Mr. Obama’s plea earlier in the day for quick passage of a compromise bill that could attract support from both parties.

Democrats said the changes the House approved only made the House bill more unpalatable. “This is the most outrageous suggestion I have heard,” said Senator Richard J. Durbin, the assistant Democratic leader.

Mr. Obama said: “Any solution to avoid default must be bipartisan. I urge Democrats and Republicans in the Senate to find common ground on a plan that can get support from both parties in the House, a plan that I can sign by Tuesday.”

He urged Republicans in the House and Senate to abandon a bill that “does not solve the problem” and has no chance of passage in the Senate.

“There are a lot of crises in the world that we can’t always predict or avoid,” he said. “This isn’t one of those crises.”

In an effort to break the logjam, Mr. Reid, the majority leader, had called on Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, to meet with him on Friday to try to resolve to the stalemate.

“My door is open,” Mr. Reid said as the Senate convened. “I will listen to any idea to get this done in a way that prevents a default and a dangerous downgrade to America’s credit rating. Time is short, and too much is at stake, to waste even one more minute.

“The last train is leaving the station,” he said. “This is our last chance to avert default.”

It appeared that the Senate would be in session around the clock this weekend.

The Democrats said they would file a motion on Friday that would start the Senate debate, running down the procedural clock while Republicans, presumably, filibustered against the Reid proposal. The first vote on breaking the filibuster would come after midnight Saturday. Unless the Democrats can win over enough Republicans to cut off debate and move to approving the Reid bill or some variant, the Republicans would be forced to hold the floor continuously, awaiting some kind of deal.

Mr. McConnell, who had been working with Mr. Reid on a fallback plan, abandoned that attempt and has been supporting the effort by Mr. Boehner to push through a proposal that would raise the debt limit in two stages — an approach flatly rejected by Senate Democrats and the White House even before it was toughened with the latest demand for a constitutional amendment.

Mr. McConnell, too, came to the Senate floor on Friday and offered little indication that he was ready to deal, accusing Democrats of devoting recent days to undermining the House plan. “Our Democratic friends in the Senate have offered no solutions to the crisis that can pass either chamber,” he said.

Mr. Reid said he would be making changes to his measure to attract more support but made clear that he considered the Senate plan the final effort to avert a default next week.

“There will be no time left to vote on another bill or consider another option here in the Senate,” he said. “None.”

Mr. Reid said he had also had a “sobering” conversation on Friday with Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner about the consequences of a default.

“It is really precarious for our country,” he said.

Until now, the White House and Senate Democratic leaders had been waiting for the House to act before making their next move with an eye on the Tuesday deadline set by the Treasury Department for raising the debt ceiling or facing the possibility that the government would not be able to meet all its financial obligations.

Failure to pass his proposal would have represented a significant defeat for Mr. Boehner, the first-year speaker who has invested significant political capital in trying to get his fractious majority behind the legislation, which had the strong support of the entire leadership team.

Facing that prospect, he adjusted his proposal to the right, and his opposition within the caucus evaporated.

Knew it would happen. What an asshole Boehner is.

CONTINUED...

PART TWO...

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, accused Boehner of "adding all kinds of unrealistic poison pills to his plan."

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, argued Senate Democrats were doing little to actually resolve the crisis.

"I would suggest to my friends on the other side ... that they start taking their responsibilities as a majority party a little more seriously, because at this point, the only people who are disregarding the consequences of default are Senate Democrats -- not the Republicans in the House -- but them," McConnell said. In a statement after the House vote, McConnell said: "I eagerly await the majority leader's plan for preventing this crisis."

As the political maneuvering continues, the clock continues to tick down. If Congress fails to raise the current $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by August 2, Americans could face rising interest rates and a declining dollar, among other problems.

Some financial experts have warned of a downgrade of America's triple-A credit rating and a potential stock market plunge. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped for a sixth straight on Friday.

Without an increase in the debt limit, the federal government will not be able to pay all its bills next month. Obama recently indicated he can't guarantee Social Security checks will be mailed out on time.

Leaders of both parties now agree that any deal to raise the debt ceiling should include long-term spending reductions to help control spiraling deficits. But they differ sharply on both the nature and timetable of the cuts.

Despite the strong partisan rhetoric, there have been signs of a growing recognition of a need for further compromise. Earlier this week, McConnell called for renewed negotiations with Obama, and indicated that his party must be willing to move away from some of its demands.

Sources close to the negotiations have also told CNN that Vice President Joe Biden is very much in the mix of back-channel conversations on a possible fallback position.

White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley told CNN Thursday that, presuming the Boehner plan wins House approval and gets blocked in the Senate, the next step is for everyone "to take a step back in the Congress and look at where is a point of compromise."

Daley said that similarities between the Boehner and Reid plans "may be the grounds for a deal that, hopefully, both parties can pass."

Both plans suffered setbacks earlier this week when the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released reports concluding that they fell short of their stated deficit reduction goals.

Boehner's plan, which has since been revised, proposed generating a total of $917 billion in savings while initially raising the debt ceiling by $900 billion. The speaker has pledged to match any debt ceiling hike with dollar-for-dollar spending cuts.

His plan, however, would require a second vote by Congress to raise the debt ceiling by a combined $2.5 trillion -- enough to last through the end of 2012. It would create a special congressional committee to recommend additional savings of $1.6 trillion or more.

Any failure on the part of Congress to enact mandated spending reductions or abide by new spending caps would trigger automatic across-the-board budget cuts.

The plan, as amended Friday, also calls for congressional passage of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution before the second vote to raise the debt ceiling, which would likely be required at some point during the winter.

As for Reid's plan, it would reduce deficits over the next decade by $2.2 trillion. Democrats have promised that the final version of the plan will contain additional savings -- enough to match any required debt ceiling hike through 2012.

Reid's plan would cut spending by $1.8 trillion, including $1 trillion in savings based on the planned U.S. withdrawals from military engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Limiting future discretionary spending would save $751 billion, while an estimated $375 billion would be saved in interest payments due to reduced borrowing because of the spending cuts.

Reid's plan also would establish a congressional committee made up of 12 House and Senate members to consider additional options for debt reduction. The committee's proposals would be guaranteed by a Senate vote with no amendments by the end of the year.

Among other things, Reid has stressed that his plan meets the key GOP demand for no additional taxes. Boehner, however, argued this week that Reid's plan fails to tackle popular entitlement programs such as Medicare, which are among the biggest drivers of the debt.

A recent CNN/ORC International Poll reveals a growing public exasperation and demand for compromise. Sixty-four percent of respondents to a July 18-20 survey preferred a deal with a mix of spending cuts and tax increases. Only 34% preferred a debt reduction plan based solely on spending reductions.

According to the poll, the public is sharply divided along partisan lines; Democrats and independents are open to a number of different approaches because they think a failure to raise the debt ceiling would cause a major crisis for the country. Republicans, however, draw the line at tax increases, and a narrow majority of them oppose raising the debt ceiling under any circumstances.

CNN's Ted Barrett, Kate Bolduan, Gloria Borger, Keating Holland, Brianna Keilar, Jeanne Sahadi, Xuan Thai, Jessica Yellin and Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report