Senate reaches short term deal to end shutdown, raise debt ceiling until 2014
Back the House goes the debate on raising the debt ceiling and ending the partial government shutdown.
The Senate has struck a deal to fund the government to January 15 and raise the debt ceiling to extend spending until February 7, 2014.
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There is no word on what the House plans to do now that the Senate has reached a decision.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican leader Mitch McConnell announced the agreement on the Senate floor, where it was expected to win easily.
Senator Ted Cruz said the deal provides no relief of negative results of the Affordable Care Act and opposes the temporary deal but will not try to block a vote.
Thursday marks the day the Treasury Department will run out of special accounting maneuvers to keep the nation under the legal borrowing limit. From that point on, it will have to pay the country’s incoming bills and other legal obligations with an estimated $30 billion in cash, plus whatever daily revenue comes in.
Both Democrats and Republicans are confident that the U.S. House of Representatives will have enough votes on Wednesday to pass the bipartisan Senate plan, a top Democratic aide said.
Aides to House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, called senior Senate staff to say the House would vote first on the measure, the aide said. The aide said it appears certain to be approved with mostly Democratic votes.
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[…] The deal setup by the Senate funds the government into January and raises the debt ceiling until mid-February – details here. […]