The political fight to keep the United States out of default on its financial obligations turned Wednesday to a resurrected bipartisan plan in the Senate, the broad outlines of the deal supported by President Barack Obama because it meets his conditions of spending cuts combined with increased tax revenue, according to AP. There was the possibility of a White House meeting on the plan a day after conservative tea party-backed Republicans in the House of Representatives passed largely symbolic legislation that would slash the U.S. debt and make additional borrowing contingent on passage of a constitutional balanced budget amendment. That legislation faced almost certain defeat in the Democrat-controlled Senate, and Obama has vowed to veto it should it ever reach his desk. Before the House could vote or even fully debate its bill, Obama moved to undercut it when he marched into the White House press room to laud an unexpectedly rejuvenated bipartisan Senate plan - that cuts spending and raises taxes - as "broadly consistent" with his ideas for cutting the nation's debt. He held out hope it would provide an opening for both houses of Congress to raise the debt ceiling. -- SPA
