Debt-ceiling crisis still eludes compromise

Republican lawmakers moved ahead Monday on a doomed plan to amend the U.S. Constitution to require a balanced federal budget, one day after President Obama met with the top two House GOP leaders in hopes of reaching a debt-limit agreement that could win approval from the hostile House.

House Republicans insist that a constitutional mandate is the only way to impose discipline on Washington’s spending binges and spare the country future dangerous political showdowns like the one now speeding the country to the brink of its first-ever default.

Beyond requiring that the budget be balanced each year, the so-called “cut, cap and balance” measure under House consideration would require that the constitutional provision include annual spending caps and a supermajority to approve tax increases.

That plan faces almost certain defeat in the Senate, where many lawmakers moved ahead on Monday with a compromise proposal.

The current timeline, according to aides in both parties, would call for the Senate to unveil its bipartisan plan later this week and begin to consider it Saturday. With a week of parliamentary hurdles to clear, the Senate could pass its bill by July 29, leaving the House just four days to consider whether to approve the plan before Aug. 2, when the country would no longer be able to pay its bills.

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