Senate

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday both praised and criticized Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) proposal to raise the debt ceiling.

“The substantive good news here is that the plan that Mitch McConnell offered, for its faults, makes the likelihood ... of not paying our bills … less likely,” said Schumer, who then criticized the plan as having "a good deal of fault to it."

The Senate voted to open debate on the Veteran Affairs appropriations bill Wednesday in a 89-11 vote.

H.R. 2055, the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs (VA) and Related Agencies appropriations bill, increases funding for the VA by 5.8 percent and cuts military construction spending by $2.6 billion to reflect anticipated base closures and realignments.

The 51-49 vote likely spells the end for the resolution to raise taxes on people earning $1 million or more.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he is "heartened" by what he's seen in Mitch McConnell's proposal on raising the debt ceiling.

"I am glad to hear that the Republican leader has come forward with a backstop proposal to address the debt limit," Reid said from the Senate floor.  

A handful of Democrats introduced legislation that would target overseas U.S. assets and could raise $100 billion in tax revenues.

The Senate meets at 9:30 a.m. and at 10:30 a.m. is expected to hold a cloture vote on a sense of the Senate favoring higher taxes on people earning $1 million a year or more.

Senate Republicans have so far allowed the resolution, S. 1323, to move along in the Senate, but are expected at some point to vote against it in a demonstration of their opposition to higher taxes.

In a major shift, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said on Tuesday he is willing to consider changes to Social Security as part of a grand bargain that includes at least $4 trillion in cuts to federal spending.

The Senate will likely vote Wednesday on whether to bring a Veteran Affairs appropriations bill to the floor.

The vote on H.R. 2055 —  which would increase funding for the VA by 5.8 percent and cut military construction spending by $2.6 billion — will take place if a vote on a separate "sense of the Senate" resolution fails. That resolution states that millionaires ought to pay more in taxes.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday he will examine and consider a new proposal by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to give President Obama almost complete authority to raise the debt limit between now and the beginning of 2013.

"I am not about to trash his proposal," Reid said at a press conference held shortly after McConnell presented his plan. "It's something that I will look at. I will look at it intently and — I think any new ideas I am willing to look at."

Webb's opposition to tax increases on regular earned income undermines Democratic calls to end Bush-era tax cuts for millionaires.