US Senate passes debt package

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON – The US Senate this afternoon approved a sweeping package that will cut trillions from the deficit and raise the debt limit just hours before the government faced a default on its obligations.

Following a bruising political battle where neither side emerged unscathed, the measure now goes to President Obama for his signature.

He will sign the bill immediately, just 12 hours before the country’s was set to reach its debt limit, preventing it from borrowing more money to pay all its bills.

The bill passed the senate, 74-to-26. Both of the senators from Massachusetts – John Kerry, a Democrat, and Scott Brown, a Republican – voted in favor of the legislation.

“One of the reasons I came to the Senate was to help stop out-of-control spending,” Brown said in a statement. “I voted for the compromise debt bill because it avoids default, significantly cuts spending and doesn’t raise taxes.”

Kerry told the Globe yesterday that he had problems with aspects of the legislation, but thought the country had to avoid defaulting on its payments.

“It’s not the deal that a lot of us would have made, and it’s not the deal we wanted, but I think avoiding default is critical, paramount to the country,’’ he said.

“We just have to move on,’’ Kerry added. “We need to use this time more effectively than it’s been used to help the country understand what the choices are.’’

The vote today was expected to win approval, but both sides stood to hail its passage.

“The spending spree may actually, actually, be coming to an end,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor. “This bill does not solve the problem, but it forces Washington to admit it has one.”

“Our country was literally on the verge of disaster,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said minutes later. “The product we have here is one of compromise.”

Still, both liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans have decried the terms of the deal. Republicans wanted further domestic spending cuts - and fewer to defense programs - while Democrats said the proposal put at risk some entitlement programs they cherish and should have included tax increases.

Senator Kelly Ayotte, a New Hampshire Republican, was among those who voted against the bill this afternoon, saying it didn’t do enough to slice government spending.

“We must save our country for the sake of our children,” she said in a floor speech before the vote. “I am the mother of a 6 year old and a 3 year old...I know I will not look my children in the eye and have them say, ’Mom what did you do about it?’”

The legislation was approved by the House last night by a 269-to-161 vote. It passed with the support of 174 Republicans and 95 Democrats. Only three of the 10 Massachusetts House Democrats voted in favor of the plan, representatives Bill Keating of Quincy; Stephen Lynch of South Boston; and Niki Tsongas of Lowell.

The compromise legislation allows the country’s borrowing limit to increase by at least $2 trillion, preventing the looming cash shortage and would cover spending demands until 2013. It also cuts spending by $1 trillion, spread over the next 10 years, and establishes a process to identify another $1.5 trillion in cuts to the deficit.

A 12-member bipartisan congressional committee will now be given the job of identifying the reductions in the deficit by late November. Those cuts could come through new revenues by overhauling the tax code, or through cuts to entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

If the committee is deadlocked, or if Congress doesn’t pass the panel’s recommendations, it would automatically trigger cuts. Those cuts would hit defense spending, which is opposed by Republicans, and domestic programs, which is opposed by Democrats. It would hit payments to Medicare providers, but not to Medicare beneficiaries.