WASHINGTON, May 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. House has sent legislation to the Senate that would raise the federal debt limit to nearly $9 trillion, a $781 billion increase.
The House agreed to the increase under an automatically executing provision in the 2005 budget resolution approved by the House and Senate late last week.
The House officially sent the Senate a separate piece of debt-relief legislation increasing the limit as mandated by the self-executing provision in the budget resolution.
Gaining approval of the separate bill through the gambit avoided the need for a politically costly debate on the House floor over increasing the debt ceiling again and highlighting the inter-party split on the issue.
Fiscal conservatives within the GOP have been clamoring for greater fiscal discipline on budget matters considering the massive federal deficits, estimated to reach another record in dollar terms this year, for the second consecutive year.
However, the Senate is not expected to soon take up the legislation and might even take another route toward increasing the limit, possibly opening the issue to greater legislative scrutiny and requiring an actual floor vote in the House.
