IPFS News Link • Government Debt & Financing
US Senate approves debt ceiling deal
• http://english.aljazeera.net/The US Senate has approved a bill that raises the country's borrowing limit and averts a possible default, after the lower house of congress approved it on Monday following weeks of political wrangling.
The upper house of congress passed the measure by 74 votes to 26. It required 60 votes to pass.
Barack Obama, the US president, is set to sign the bill into law following Tuesday's vote.
The earlier passage of the bill by the Republican-controlled House came a day before the deadline to lift the debt ceiling, with agreement between Republicans and Democrats over the $2.1 trillion deficit-cutting plan reached over the weekend.
The vote in the Senate had been virtually guaranteed to pass the bill, with Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader, and Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader, both backing it.