House Republicans have engineered the defeat of their own proposed $2.4 trillion increase in the debt limit, a political gambit designed to reinforce a demand for spending cuts to accompany any future increase in government borrowing.

The vote Tuesday was 97-318, far below the two-thirds majority needed for passage.

Republicans signaled well in advance that the debt limit vote was political theater and did not portend a final refusal to grant an increase.

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