The Budget Control Act of 2011 bill does not tackle any “tax expenditure” issues, containing no explicit reference to life, health or retirement tax provisions.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., devised House Resolution 384 in an effort to raise the official U.S. debt limit and eliminate the possibility that the United States might start defaulting on debt payments as early as today. The bill passed the House on Monday by a vote of 269-161; the Senate will conduct a vote at noon today.

The compromise bill would provide an immediate $400 billion increase in the debt limit, and then allow the debt to rise an additional $1.7 trillion to $2 trillion. The bill also calls for a bipartisan budget cutting committee to produce at least $1.2 trillion in budget cuts by Thanksgiving of 2012.