The House of Representatives planned to vote today on a debt-limit increase proposal that confronts unified Democratic opposition in the Senate, setting the stage for a congressional showdown to avert a U.S. default.
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio gained support among fellow Republicans for his plan to raise the debt ceiling after reworking the legislation to cut $917 billion over 10 years, more than his original approach. All 51 Senate Democrats and two independents signed a letter yesterday pledging to oppose the measure.
As congressional leaders continued to wrangle with less than a week before a potential U.S. default on Aug. 2, stock markets showed jitters. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 2 percent yesterday, the biggest drop in almost two months, and the cost of insuring against a U.S. default climbed to the highest level since February 2010.
