On August 2, 2011, the Senate passed a $2.1 trillion budget package that capped months of intense partisan wrangling that brought the country to the brink of a historic default on its obligations. The vote came hours before the Treasury Department warned the US to default on its debt. The House passed the package the other day.
CQ Roll Call photojournalists documented the wheeling and dealing during the summer of 2011 and show it here as the current debt limit negotiations continue.
JULY 14, 2011: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, center, speaks during a news conference at the Capitol following the Senate Democrats’ caucus lunch meeting on debt limit negotiations. Also shown, from left, Sens. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois and Charles E. Schumer of New York, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Sen. Patty Murray in Washington — (Scott J. Ferrell/CQ Roll Call)JULY 19, 2011: Rep. Tom Marino of Pennsylvania, center, speaks outside the White House with other freshman House Republicans after sending a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to release his debt limit plan to Congress. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)JULY 21, 2011: The movie “The Longest Yard” is shown on a television monitor during Speaker John A. Boehner’s weekly news conference on the debt ceiling talks. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)JULY 25, 2011: Reid, right, and Schumer hold a news conference at the Capitol about a new proposal to raise the debt ceiling. (Photo By Tom Williams/Roll Call)JULY 27, 2011: Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina spoke during a rally in Upper Senate Park urging Republicans to support their “Cut, Cap and Balance” proposal. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)JULY 28, 2011: Rep. Indiana’s Mike Pence left Speaker Boehner’s office after a meeting on the debt ceiling. House Republicans later announced they would not hold a vote until the next day. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)JULY 29, 2011: Boehner appears on closed-circuit television on the subway heading to the Rayburn House Office Building as the House prepares to vote on a Republican measure to raise the debt ceiling. The Senate later rejected it. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)JULY 30, 2011: Sen. Dean Heller, right, tries to get a free pizza from the Pi on Wheels pizza food truck, which offers free pizza to anyone with a Senate ID in hopes of helping the chamber reach an agreement on the debt ceiling. Nevada Republicans are disappointed they don’t have meat pizza. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)AUGUST 1, 2011: Vice President Joe Biden speaks to reporters at the Capitol Visitor Center following a meeting of the House Democratic caucus on ongoing debt ceiling negotiations. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)AUGUST 1, 2011: Boehner, center, reacts to questions from reporters on the Capitol floor as he leaves a meeting of the House GOP caucus on increasing the debt ceiling. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)AUGUST 1, 2011: From left, Cantor, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of California and Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam of Illinois phone GOP caucus members from Cantor’s Capitol office to see how they voted before the debt limit vote in the House. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)AUGUST 1, 2011: Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, center, arrives at the Capitol with her husband Mark Kelly, right, and fellow Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida to vote on the debt limit bill in the House. Giffords is still recovering from a gunshot wound to the head she sustained after surviving an assassination attempt on January 8 in Tucson. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)AUGUST 1, 2011: As the House votes on the debt ceiling bill, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota – who was also a Republican presidential candidate at the time – greeted a family from Kansas City, Mo., on the steps of the House as they held a family protest calling for a balance budget. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)AUGUST 1, 2011: From the left, Republican then-Rep. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Democratic Reps. Loretta Sanchez of California and Bill Owens of New York, and Republican Reps. Billy Long of Missouri and Timothy Johnson of Illinois walked the steps of the House after the chamber passed the debt ceiling bill. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)AUGUST 2, 2011: Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona speaks to reporters before the Senate passes a deal to raise the debt limit. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)AUGUST 2, 2011: Reid walks past a crowd of reporters after his Senate news conference passing a measure to raise the debt limit. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
