国际英语新闻:Bill to Raise US Debt Ceiling Advances - For Now

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill tying an increase in the federal borrowing limit to deep spending cuts, limits on future spending, and a proposed constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget. The Republican-sponsored measure is expected to fail in the Democratically-controlled Senate, leaving the United States without a clear path to deficit reduction as the clock ticks toward a possible default on America’s $14.3 trillion national debt.

The Cut, Cap, and Balance Act passed on a mostly party-line vote in the Republican-controlled chamber. The bill would cut non-defense federal spending, limit future spending to less than 20-percent of America’s gross domestic product, and require a constitutional mandate that the United States balance its books every year. It would extract significant savings from so-called entitlement programs that provide income and health care to retirees, but would not increase revenues.

In an era of massive federal deficits, ballooning national debt, and a stagnant economy, Republicans say strong medicine is required. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan:

“We cannot keep spending money we do not have," said Ryan. "Forty-two cents out of every dollar coming out of Washington is borrowed money, 47 percent of it from other countries, China number 1 [most of all]. Mr. Speaker, you cannot have sovereignty, self-determination as a country if we are relying on other governments to cash-flow [finance] half of our deficit.”

Democrats, like Representative John Yarmuth of Kentucky, said the measure would place the full burden of fiscal austerity on America’s poor and vulnerable. 

“What Cut, Cap, and Balance would really mean is slash, shred, and punish," said Yarmuth. "Slash the budget, shred the safety net, and punish American citizens who can least afford it. All while protecting the wealthiest, most successful [people].”

Most observers view the bill as an academic exercise designed to appease the ultra-conservative Tea Party wing of the Republican Party. The bill is highly unlikely to pass the Senate, and would face a presidential veto even if it did.

At the White House, President Barack Obama barely mentioned the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act, focusing instead on a new plan put forth by a bipartisan group of Senators, the so-called Gang of Six. The president hailed the plan’s inclusion of spending cuts, entitlement reforms, and tax provisions - what  Obama called a balanced approach to deficit reduction.