WASHINGTON - Forty three Republican Senators of the United States said Saturday that they opposed the debt ceiling plan put forward by Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid, fresh evidence of the bitter debt ceiling deadlock.

These Senators including Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell signed a letter addressed to Reid on Saturday to voice their opposition to the measure aiming at lifting the debt limit by $2.4 trillion and cutting spending by $2.2 trillion over a decade.

"We will not vote for your $2.4 trillion debt limit amendment which, if enacted, would result in the single largest debt ceiling increase in the history of the United States," noted the letter.

The Reid plan would not help alter the spending trajectory that is putting the US economy and national security at risk, said the letter.

Forty three Republican Senators of the chamber's 47 GOP members held that the only possible justification for a $2.4 trillion increase in borrowing authority was to allow the President to avoid any accountability for these issues before his 2012 election.

The federal government's borrowing limit, currently at $14.29 trillion, was reached on May 16. The Treasury Department said the nation would begin to default on its debts unless the Congress agreed to lift the limit by August 2.

"Given the nation's enormous future spending challenges, it would be irresponsible to give the President this unprecedented additional borrowing authority without requiring the enactment of significant spending reductions and reforms," said the letter.

With time running short, Beltway policymakers have not found a way to lift the nation out of the current mess, despite a string of credit rating downgrade warnings from leading rating agencies.