Venezuela lawmakers reject president's economic crisis plan

Venezuelan opposition lawmakers have rejected President Nicolas Maduro's bid to decree a state of economic emergency, deepening a political crisis in the oil-rich nation.
In a vote in the National Assembly yesterday, a large majority of lawmakers rejected the decree, which would have given Maduro heightened powers for two months to intervene in the recession-stricken economy.
"We reject this decree because it means just more of the same," said Jose Guerra, head of the congressional commission that examined the decree before the vote.
"The cause of the problem is a failed economic model."
Lawmakers voted by 107 votes to 53 to reject the measure.

Yesterday was the deadline for the opposition-controlled assembly to vote on it.

The refusal by Maduro's rivals to pass the decree prolongs a tense political standoff in the volatile South American state, where citizens are suffering shortages of basic food and goods.
The emergency measure would have allowed for the administration to commandeer private companies' resources, impose currency controls and take "other social, economic or political measures deemed fitting."
The opposition, as well as some businesses and unions, warned it was a threat to free enterprise and jobs.
It wants to scrap government's price and currency controls.