WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday prepared to raise the nation's debt ceiling by $800 billion, taking the new limit to $8.184 trillion.
The Senate approved the rise, the third in three years, on Wednesday. The House is expected to pass it as well so it can be sent to President George W. Bush for signing into law. The vote is expected to take place on Thursday evening after the return of lawmakers attending the inauguration of the Clinton presidential library in Arkansas.
"It is a necessary and not unusual step to ensure the government can pay its bills," said Rep. Tom Reynolds, a New York Republican.
The Treasury Department has been forced to take special accounting measures to avoid piercing the current $7.384 trillion ceiling.
Democrats blame Bush's tax cuts for pushing up government borrowing and turning the fiscal surplus he inherited into a record deficit.
Republicans say the fiscal shortfall is due to the 2001 recession, the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.
11-18-2004, 06:57 PM
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