Senate Votes Down Reid's Plan

As expected, the Senate voted today not to move forward with Harry Reid's debt ceiling proposal in a 50-49 vote. The Wall Street Journal notes that the vote was "anti-climactic," since the real work on hammering out a deal by the end of the day is happening behind the scenes between the White House and House and Senate leaders. Following the vote, Reid told senators to take a break. Although he didn't offer a timetable for when to expect a vote on a new deal, he cheekily said he wouldn't recommend anyone go off to a ball game.

Reid's proposal to raise the debt ceiling included $2.2 trillion in spending cuts; the expected final deal will include $3 trillion in deficit cuts. By voting on Reid's proposal, his bill can be kept alive as the shell for any final deal that may be reached today; in fact, Reid himself voted against his own bill in order to keep it alive. See the Wall Street Journal's live blog for more details, including a spontaneous debate between Dick Durbin and John McCain over how to rein in US debt. (More debt ceiling stories.)