Senate permits government to borrow an additional $1.9 trillion

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Senate Democrats needed all the 60 votes at their disposal today to muscle through legislation allowing the government to go $1.9 trillion deeper in debt.

Democratic leaders were able to prevail on the politically volatile 60-39 vote only because Republican Sen.-elect Scott Brown of Massachusetts has yet to be seated. Republicans had insisted on a 60-vote, super-majority threshold to pass the measure. An earlier test vote succeeded on a 60-40 vote.

The measure would would put the government on track for a national debt of $14.3 trillion — about $45,000 for every American — and it served as a vivid reminder of the United States’ dire fiscal straits.

The massive increase in the debt limit would allow majority Democrats to avoid another vote until after the midterm elections this fall. New estimates released by the Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday show that the U.S. this year could run a deficit matching last year’s record $1.4-trillion shortfall.

To win the votes of moderate Democrats, President Obama promised to appoint a special task force to come up with a plan for dealing with the spiraling debt.

And to get the support of moderate “Blue Dog” Democrats in a House vote next week, the measure includes tough new “pay-as-you-go” budget rules to make it harder to run up the deficit with new tax cuts or federal benefit programs. Senate Democrats had been reluctant to approve the new deficit curbs but relented and approved them by a 60-40 vote.

-- Associated Press