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Hours before the midnight deadline, both chambers of the US Congress — the Senate and House of Representatives — passed a last-minute legislation to end a disruptive 16-day government shutdown and prevent debt default with potentially worldwide economic repercussions.
Though the passage of the legislation ends global anxiety as the default would have had cascading impact on the world economy, the bipartisan deal reached by the Republicans and the Democrats with the support of the White House buys time only for a few months, before which they need to renegotiate the issue and find a lasting solution to their differences.
Late last night, Obama said that he would sign the bill as soon as it is passed by the Congress.
Govt to reopen today
In all likelihood, the government shutdown is now expected to end today when over five lakh furloughed federal employees are expected to return to their service. The legislation also has provision for them being paid for the period they were furloughed.
“Now that the Bill has passed the United States Senate and the House of Representatives, the President plans to sign it tonight and employees should expect to return to work in the morning,” Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, said.
“Employees should be checking the news and OPM’s website for further updates,” Burwell said.
The Senate passed the legislation by 81-18 votes, while in the House of Representatives it was passed by 285-144 votes. It now heads to the White House for President Barack Obama to sign it into law.
The Bill was passed one day before the US Government was to exhaust its borrowing capacity.
Debt limit, government funding
In addition to lifting the $16.7-trillion debt limit, the legislation approves the government funding through January 15.
“We’ll begin reopening our government immediately, and we can begin to lift this cloud of uncertainty and unease from our businesses and from the American people,” Obama told reporters at the White House.
Fiscal impasse
The end to the fiscal impasse is being described in the US media as a defeat of the Republican party.
“We fought the good fight; we just didn’t win,” House Speaker John Boehner said.
“Congressional Republicans conceded defeat on Wednesday in their bitter budget fight with President Obama over the new healthcare law,” The New York Times wrote.
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