Senate puts off debt vote until Sunday

WASHINGTON, July 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate late Saturday put off a scheduled vote on a plan by Majority Leader Harry Reid to increase the federal debt limit.

The vote had been scheduled for 1 a.m. EDT Sunday but the Senate decided just after 10 p.m. Saturday to delay the vote until 1 p.m. Sunday. The House voted 246-173 Saturday to reject Reid's plan, before the Senate had even voted on it.

Speaking at a joint news conference after the House vote, Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters they had been in touch with the White House and optimistic a debt deal will be reached before the Aug. 2 deadline set by the Treasury Department.

"The only thing standing in the way of the House proposal over in the Senate is the president and Senator Reid," Boehner said. "It's time for them to tell us what they're for, time to tell us how they're going to get us out of the cul-de-sac they've driven our country into."

"We know the Reid proposal will not pass the Senate," McConnell said. "We know it will not pass the House. My view is we ought to end that charade and get serious."

McConnell said he had spoken with Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama within the previous hour, adding, "I'm confident and optimistic that we're going to get an agreement in the very near future."

However, Reid said on the Senate floor McConnell's observation was wrong, The Hill reported.

"The speaker and Republican leader should know that merely saying you have an agreement in front of television cameras doesn't make it so," Reid said.

"I'm more optimistic than my friend," McConnell said in response to Reid. "We both talked to the president today … we've got a chance of getting there."

Shortly before the House vote, the White House Office of Management and Budget released a statement saying the Obama administration "strongly supports" Reid's measure, which would raise the federal debt ceiling until after the next election.

After the vote, Obama called Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to the White House to discuss the next steps in the debt-limit debate.

Reid said after the White House meeting no agreement had been reached. The White House said the meeting ended at 5:05 p.m. EDT but had no other information about it, The Hill reported.

Earlier Saturday, McConnell sent a letter to Reid signed by 43 GOP senators indicating they oppose Reid's plan.

"We are writing to let you know that we will not vote for your $2.4 trillion debt limit amendment which, if enacted, would result in the single largest debt ceiling increase in the history of the United States," the letter states. "In addition to this unprecedented increase in borrowing authority, your amendment completely fails to address our current fiscal imbalance and lacks any serious effort to ensure that any subsequent spending cuts are enacted."

Obama is open to extending the country's Tuesday debt default date if Republicans show willingness to compromise, The Hill reported Saturday.

Unidentified Democratic sources told the Washington newspaper there had been little communication between the Republican-majority House of Representatives and the White House Friday night as the clock wound down to a financial default Tuesday.

Obama was willing to use executive authority to briefly extend the debt-ceiling deadline if he saw progress in the partisan stalemate, the newspaper said.

Boehner has taken a hard-line approach at capping the U.S. debt, cutting government spending and enacting legislation forcing a balanced budget.

In the Democratic-led Senate, Reid was reported to be working on legislation Saturday that could pass in the House.

Since winning the House majority last year, Republicans have focused on the country's $14 trillion debt and unemployment that's risen to 9.2 percent.