Lawmakers' votes open way for final US debt push | Reuters

(Reuters) - Lawmakers opened the way on Friday for a last-ditch bid for a possible bipartisan compromise to avert a crippling national default just four days before the deadline to raise the country's debt ceiling.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved a Republican deficit-cutting plan and the Democratic-led Senate quickly rejected it -- moves that underscored the ideological divide but also cleared a path to start negotiating a deal.

The back-to-back votes broke weeks of political inertia in efforts to lift the $14.3 trillion U.S. debt limit by Tuesday after which the world's largest economy will be unable to pay all of its bills, the government says.

Delays and procedural hurdles will still make it all but impossible for Congress to strike a deal and send it to Obama's desk until the 11th hour, injecting a dangerous level of uncertainty into already rattled global financial markets.

via reuters.com