The Senate voted 51-46, along strict party-lines, on Friday to kill the House Republicans' "cut, cap and balance" legislation.
The measure would have cut spending by $111 billion in 2012, capped spending over the next decade and prohibited more borrowing until Congress had passed a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution.
In the meantime, progress appeared to be made in the ongoing negotiations between Obama and House Speaker John Boehner but are being jeopardized by Senate Democrats who are reportedly outraged over a lack of tax increases and are bitterly complaining about being left out of the negotiations.
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