The House of Representatives and the Senate of the United States were working independently of each other Friday in two separate bills to raise the debt ceiling and avoid a potentially catastrophic default next week, but none of the two Houses shall seemed able to immediately end the political deadlock.
The chairman of the House of Representatives, Republican John Boehner, has revised his bill in a hurry after being confronted with opposition from the more conservative members of his party, which forced him to postpone the vote twice Thursday.
Mr. Boehner would try again to present his proposal to a vote Friday. But even if adopted by the representatives, all indications are that it will be rejected by the Senate. The head of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Harry Reid, said he would try to pass its own plan, which has not much chance of surviving the vote of the House of Representatives.
The two bills could still lay the foundation behind the scenes negotiations between the leaders of both parties in Congress to find a bipartisan compromise could be approved by both houses before the deadline next Tuesday.
If they fail, the federal government can no longer borrow money and will be unable to meet its obligations. A default could result in lowering the credit rating of the United States, which would affect the global economy and interest rates. The political deadlock has already led to international financial markets into a downward spiral.
President Barack Obama reiterated Friday that there was almost no time to reach an agreement.
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