House Votes for Three-Month Extension on Debt Limit

Kabuki theater continues

The GOP-controlled House voted 285 to 144 to comfortably pass a three-month extension in the government's borrowing authority just as Senate Democratic leaders suggested they would take up and pass the legislation as soon as they could.

The vote early Wednesday afternoon by the House would forestall a default on the national debt. The Treasury Department had warned that the government would exhaust its authority to borrow to finance its existing obligations by the middle of February.