US Senate clinches deal to end shutdown; avoid debt default

Top Senate leaders today said they have reached an agreement to end the over two-week US government shutdown and increase the debt ceiling so as to avoid a first-ever default hours before the deadline expired.
The agreement was announced by the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, on the Senate floor.
"The compromise we reached will provide our economy with the stability it desperately needs," he said.
The House of Representatives will vote on it soon.
"The eyes of the world have been on Washington all this week. That is a gross understatement. While they witnessed a great deal of political discord, today they will also see Congress reach a historic bipartisan agreement to reopen the government and avert a default on the nation's bills," he said.

Reid said after weeks spent facing off across a partisan divide that often seemed too wide to cross, the country came to the brink of a disaster.

"But in the end, political adversaries set aside their differences and disagreements to prevent that disaster," he said.
The new compromise agreement, he said, will fund the government through January 15, 2014 and averts default through February 7, during which time they can work toward a long-term budget agreement that prevents these frequent crises.
The Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, said the deal will reopen the government, avoid default and protect the historic cuts they achieved under the Budget Control Act.

"This is far less than many of us had hoped for, frankly, but is far better than what some had sought. Now's time for Republicans to unite behind other crucial goals," he said on the Senate floor.
"This legislation is the largest spending reduction bill of the last quarter-century and the largest deficit reduction bill since 1981 that didn't include a tax hike. Preserving this law is critically important to the future of our country," McConnell said.
With time running out, news reports said the legislation would first move through the House and then would breeze through the Senate so as to pass the legislation in time before the October 17 deadline to avoid an unprecedented default on the debt.

Senator Ted Cruz said he will not block the vote, even though he opposes the agreement because it does not address Republican objections to President Barack Obama's contentious 'Obamacare' health reform plan.