WASHINGTON (Jan. 23, 2013) — The U.S. House of Representatives voted 285-144 today to suspend the federal government's legal debt limit and allow it to borrow as much money as it needed until May 18.
The Republican-backed measure also would require both houses of Congress to adopt a new budget by April 15, or else face withholding of congressional pay until the new Congress begins in 2015.
The government reached its $16.4 trillion debt limit Dec. 31, and the Treasury Department said that by February it will exhaust all extraordinary measures it has at its disposal to extend the government's ability to borrow.
Senate Democratic leaders said they will accept the House measure without changes, and the White House said President Barack Obama will sign it. A Senate vote on the bill could come next week.
This marks the second time in a month Congress has voted to postpone a looming financial crisis. On Jan. 1, it voted to forestall for two months the "fiscal cliff" mandating automatic spending cuts and tax increases. The cuts come due again March 1.