Senate Democrats Back Automatic Debt Limit Hikes

The Senate voted along party lines Tuesday to reject a GOP effort that would have blocked the approved increase in the national debt limit.

The chamber voted 54-45 against the GOP move to try to use a special "disapproval" process to block that increase.

The move came as Senate Democrats proposed to avoid future showdowns over the so-called debt ceiling by giving the president authority to authorize additional federal borrowing unless Congress can muster veto-proof margins to block him.

The move by Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, is aimed at heading off future Washington confrontations over increasing the government's borrowing cap. Debt limit battles this fall and in 2011 spooked financial markets and took the government precariously close to a default on its obligations.

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