The US House of Representatives has narrowly passed a Republican bill providing a short-term $900-billion increase in the nation's debt ceiling.
The bill, proposed by Speaker John Boehner, was passed in a 218-210 vote, with 22 Republicans and every Democrat voting against.
The legislation, which contains $917 billion in spending cuts over a decade, is not expected to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate in its current form. The Democrats favor a longer-term $2.5 trillion borrowing limit increase in exchange for $2.2 trillion in spending cuts.
If the U.S. Congress does not vote to raise the current debt ceiling of $14.3 billion by Tuesday, the U.S. government is likely to default on its financial obligations and the country's economy may plunge back into recession.
The passed bill offers to raise the debt limit again early next year if Washington works out more spending cuts. The Democrats oppose the offer, saying that the revision of the debt ceiling amid presidential and congressional campaigns would aggravate political tensions.
Shortly after the bill was passed, the White House issued a statement, urging lawmakers to look to the alternative plan to increase debt limit, proposed by Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, and accept it as a “basis” for a “compromise.”
“The bill passed today in the House with exclusively Republican votes would have us face another debt ceiling crisis in just a few months by demanding the Constitution be amended or America defaults,” White House spokesman Jay Carney warned in the statement.
