Is The US Government Shutdown Over? Senate Reaches Bipartisan Deal To End It Partially And Avoid Default

Senate leaders announced on Wednesday that they have reached a deal to end the government shutdown and avoid a possible U.S. default. The Senate deal will reopen the government, funding it until January 15. It will also raise the debt limit until February 7 to avert a possible default on U.S. debt obligations for the first time. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican leader Mitch McConnell announced the agreement after noon, and the Senate Republicans who had led the push to shut down the government unless President Obama's health care law was gutted, particularly Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, conceded defeat and promised not to delay a final vote. "This is not a time to point fingers of blame," Reid said. "This is a time of reconciliation."

On top of the agreement, the Senate will take up a separate motion to instruct House and Senate negotiators to reach accord by Dec. 13 on a long-term blueprint for tax and spending policies over the next decade. McConnell added that under the deal, budget cuts extracted in the 2011 fiscal showdown were not reversed, as some Democrats had wanted. The deal, he said, "is far less than many of us hoped for, quite frankly, but far better than what some had sought." "It's time for Republicans to unite behind other crucial goals," he added.

"The compromise we reached will provide our economy with the stability it desperately needs," Reid said on the Senate floor. "In the end, political adversaries set aside their differences and disagreements to prevent ... disaster." President Barack Obama will accept the deal, White House spokesman Jay Carney said. Obama believes the agreement "will reopen the government and remove the threat of economic brinksmanship," Carney added. "The president hopes that both houses will act swiftly on this agreement." He went on, "We leave parliamentary procedures to the Congress, but we obviously hope that each house will be able to act swiftly. We are already on Day 16 of a wholly unnecessary shutdown of government."

Carney was also reluctant to be seen declaring victory on behalf of Obama. "There are no winners here," he said. "There is already a price that has been paid." Once the deal is approved, Obama wants to focus on gaining passage of a stalled overhaul of U.S. immigration laws. The Senate in June approved an immigration agreement, but it has not advanced in the House.