U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid speaks to the press during debt reduction talks on Capitol Hill in Washington
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told his Republican colleagues how to avoid the fiscal cliff: "All you have to do is say yes." REUTERS

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said on Friday his budget legislation would increase the nation's borrowing authority until March, 2013 and reiterated that he would not accept a short-term debt limit increase as Republicans are insisting.

Earlier in the day, Reid called on Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to sit down with him to work out a compromise for cutting federal spending and raising the debt limit by the August 2 deadline.

McConnell has thus far thrown his support behind a House of Representatives Republican bill that has been refined and could be voted upon later in the day. Reid has vowed to defeat that bill, which would extend the debt limit for only a few months.

House of Representatives