As the U.S. House of Representatives prepares to vote on a measure to reduce the federal deficit and raise the debt ceiling, a clear partisan divide remains over how to achieve the debt reductions, and even over how deep an impact a default on the nation’s debt would have on the economy.

Wisconsin congressman Reid Ribble is ready to vote on raising the debt ceiling. The freshman Republican said it’s a major compromise, but he’s voting for Speaker John Boehner’s deficit reduction plan. Passage will send the package to the Senate, as Monday’s deadline for raising the debt ceiling approaches. “I think it can happen before the Monday deadline, but if it doesn’t, it’ll be because Harry Reid chose not to,” said Ribble. “I have a lot of colleagues of mine who came here who said they would never vote for a debt limit increase, and today you’ll have two times where the House has voted to raise the debt limit in excess of a trillion dollars, with many Republicans who said they never would do it.” Ribble said he’s voting for Boehner’s proposal contingent on Boehner bringing a balanced budget amendment to the floor. [Read more...]