Vote lets debt limit rise

Pryor, Boozman split; vets’ pension cuts die

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate on Wednesday approved suspending the nation’s debt limit until March 2015 and also repealed a cut to military pensions before its members left town for more than 10 days.

The Senate voted 55-43 to let debt rise. Arkansas’ senators split their vote, with Democrat Mark Pryor in favor and Republican John Boozman opposed.

The votes allowed senators to leave town hours before a storm was expected to dump up to a half a foot of snow on the capital. The House, which approved the debt and pension bills Tuesday evening, left earlier in the day.

Neither chamber is to return until the week of Feb. 24, shortly before Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said he will run out of borrowing authority unless the limit is raised.

A suspension of the U.S. debt limit enacted by Congress in October expired Friday.

Before the Senate could send the new suspension to President Barack Obama, the chamber first had to vote to shut off debate on the bill, which requires at least 60 votes.

That was because Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, insisted on requiring the higher threshold to advance the debt-limit measure, instead of a simple majority of the 100 senators. That required at least five Republicans to join Democrats in limiting debate.

It took more than an hour of backroom wrangling and several senators changing their votes before the threshold was reached so the final vote could be held. In the end, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Republican Whip Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and 10 other Republicans joined Democrats in voting yes to move forward.

Boozman said that if the Senate hadn’t reached the 60-vote threshold, it should have remained in session until members agreed on conditions for suspension of the debt limit.

“That’s the responsible thing to do,” Boozman said. “That’s what we’re elected to do.”

Still, the Republican from Rogers said he voted no because he opposes raising the debt limit without corresponding savings to “start chipping away at the debt and the deficit.”

Pryor said in a statement that Wednesday’s vote protects the economy and the country’s credit rating.

“This bill will prevent our nation from defaulting on our obligations while giving our families, businesses, and markets the certainty they need. Going forward, I hope we will work together to responsibly cut our spending and reduce our deficit, create jobs, and strengthen our economy,” the Democrat from Little Rock said.

Passage of the legislation ends threats of default and the need for debt negotiations until after the 2014 election.

Pryor’s 2014 re-election opponent, U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton, voted against raising the debt ceiling and said in a news release Wednesday that Pryor’s vote is equivalent to “handing President Obama a blank check to continue borrowing trillions from countries like China and spending it on failed government boondoggles like Obamacare.”

Pryor’s campaign suggested Cotton is being inconsistent, and pointed to Cotton’s vote in favor of suspending the U.S. debt limit in October.

The Senate also voted 95-3 Wednesday to reverse a contentious provision contained in budget legislation approved less than two months ago.

Under the new measure, a cut in cost-of-living increases for most military retirees under age 62 would be eliminated before it is scheduled to take effect in 2015. The cut still applies to anyone who enters the military after Jan. 1, 2014.

Boozman and Pryor both voted in favor.

The cost of the measure would be more than offset by extending pre-existing cuts in Medicare and other government programs for an additional year, through 2024, supporters said.

Pryor said repeatedly this week that the Senate should vote to repeal the pension cuts now and find a way to pay for them later. He sponsored legislation that would have restored the full cost-of living increase without reductions elsewhere in the budget.

Members of Congress call such reductions a “pay-for,”as in “what is going to pay for this?’

“The most important thing is we fix this for the veterans,” Pryor said after Wednesday’s vote. “Whatever pay-for we use, we have time to fix that and adjust that as we go, so I was fine with it for now.”

Boozman also said repealing the cut was more important than how to pay for it.

“I’m for anything that takes the issue off the table. I don’t like the pay-for, but the idea of reducing our veterans’ [pensions] by 1 percent of their COLA was an injustice, and it’s something that they shouldn’t have to worry about,” Boozman said before the vote. “We just need to get it fixed, so I’m going to vote for it regardless of the pay for.”

Boozman said the House could have found a better place in the federal budget to cut spending, instead of making cuts that take effect a decade from now.

“All that happens in 2024, so the likelihood is that’ll never happen,” Boozman said. “That’s the problem with these kind of budget gimmicks.”

Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/13/2014

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