[JURIST] Following Senate approval on Wednesday, and Thursday's 208-204 vote in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives, President Bush Friday signed a bill to increase the public debt limit of the United States by $800 billion. The debt allowance increase, President Bush's third in the past three years, was explained by Republicans as necessary to compensate for fiscal shortfalls created by the 2001 recession, military operations in Middle East, and recovery from the 9/11 attacks. Democrats, however, state that the increase was necessitated by the President's "irresponsible" fiscal policies. The signing increases the public debt limit of the United States to $8.184 trillion. Read the text of S 2986. Reuters has more.