The US Senate on Tuesday approved legislation to avert a disastrous debt default and cut trillions in government spending, followed by President Barack Obama signing it into a law to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, the White House said.
Obama signed the bill shortly after it passed the Senate by 74-26 votes, a day after it cleared the House of Representatives by an overwhelming 269-161 margin. White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters “the president has signed the bill and turned it into law.” Earlier, 28 of Obama’s Republican foes joined 45 Democrats and one independent who usually sides with them in favour of the legislation, while 19 Republicans, six Democrats, and the chamber’s other independent voted no.
Obama was already expected to sign the measure quickly and turn his focus to tackling historically high US unemployment of 9.2 percent and boosting the sagging US economy, likely the dominant factor in his November 2012 reelection bid. “We have to get this out of the way to get to the issue of growing the economy,” Vice President Joe Biden declared on Monday, vowing that once the bill is law “we will be talking about nothing come then but about jobs”.
The legislation lifts cash-strapped Washington’s $14.3 trillion debt limit by up to $2.4 trillion while cutting at least $2.1 trillion in government spending over 10 years. Republicans have promised the spending cuts will create jobs, but top Wall Street economists have warned the austerity measures will actually be a drag on already sluggish US growth even as government stimulus measures run out. The overall shift from priming the US economy to government belt-tightening is expected to reduce US growth next year by about 1.5 percentage points, according to JPMorgan Chase economists. Democrats, especially on the party’s left flank, have expressed outrage that the bargain Obama struck with his Republican foes omitted any increase in tax revenues from the richest Americans or wealthy corporations.
Obama signs debt legislation after Congress says yes
