US Senate agrees to record increase in debt limit to $14.3 trillion

The vote fell along party lines, with all 60 Democrats supporting and 39 Republicans opposing a plan to increase the cap by a record $1.9 trillion. The 40th Republican, Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming, said his no vote was accidentally unrecorded. If lawmakers had approved a smaller increase, Democrats would have had to revisit the deeply unpopular topic of the soaring national debt before facing voters in November.

Even as they extended Treasury's authority to borrow, Democrats moved to rein in large budget deficits that are projected to drive the debt to dangerous levels by the end of this decade. As part of the debt limit bill, the Senate voted again along party lines to revive pay-as-you-go budget rules that bar lawmakers from increasing future deficits through tax cuts or new entitlement spending. The House is expected to take up the legislation next week.

A similar rule helped the nation balance its budget in the 1990s, but the new version would carve out $1.6 trillion in exceptions so Democrats could extend tax cuts for the middle class and avert a scheduled pay cut for doctors who treat Medicare patients without finding ways to offset those costs.