Senate votes down debt commission

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Senate votes down debt commission
cnnmoney

By Jeanne Sahadi, senior writer , On Tuesday January 26, 2010, 4:41 pm EST

The Senate on Tuesday rejected a proposal to create a bipartisan commission charged with reining in the country's debt.

The goal was to create a framework to force Congress to make some tough choices -- specifically tax increases and spending cuts.

Had it passed, Congress would have been required to take speedy votes on the commission's recommendations. The recommendations would have gone up for a vote by the end of this year.

The proposal fell by a vote of 53 to 46. Sixty votes were required for passage. The measure was attached as an amendment to a bill that would increase the legal limit U.S. debt by $1.9 trillion.

Despite the Senate vote, the idea of a commission isn't necessarily dead. It is expected that Obama will create a bipartisan fiscal commission by executive order.