House Passes GOP Debt Plan

After a furious week of wrangling votes, Republican House Speaker John Boehner was finally able to get his debt-ceiling proposal through his chamber on Friday evening. The vote, which was initially scheduled for Thursday but axed due to insufficient support from his far-right caucus, passed by a narrow margin of 218 to 210. Republicans needed 216 votes for passage. Not a single Democrat voted for the proposal, which would slash the deficit by about $900 billion over 10 years. Now the bill, dubbed the Budget Control Act, heads to the Senate, where Democratic leaders have scoffed at its two-part plan to raise the debt-ceiling, and its mandate for action on a balanced budget amendment.