House OK's Bill to Raise Debt Limit, End Shutdown

Shortly after 10 p.m., the House of Representatives voted 285 to 144 to pass the bill that had been crafted by the Senate where it had earlier been approved.

President Obama has promised to sign the legislation immediately and thousands of federal workers were expected to return to their jobs.

The Senate voted earlier 81-18 to halt the 16-day government shutdown and raise the U.S. debt limit, moving one step closer to ending the nation’s fiscal impasse.

The House of Representatives plans to vote later tonight and President Barack Obama supports the agreement. The Senate acted the day before U.S. borrowing authority was scheduled to lapse as Congress engaged in its fourth round of fiscal brinkmanship in less than three years.


All of the votes against the proposal were from Republicans. One senator, Republican James Inhofe of Oklahoma, was absent.

“This is pain inflicted on our nation for no good reason,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said after the vote. “We cannot make the same mistake again.”