US Congress adopts budget deal to avoid bankruptcy risks
Both houses of the US Congress worked all night to craft a bill that will enable the federal government to avoid bankruptcy – (Photo: Reuters)
(VOVworld) - The US Congress has passed a bill to reopen the government and raise the federal debt limit, with just hours to spare before the nation default on its debt.
The bill has yanked the US back from the brink of a budgetary abyss by extending the treasury's borrowing authority until February 7 next year.
It also funds the government to January 15, reopens closed federal agencies, and brings hundreds of thousands of furloughed employees back to work.
President Obama welcomed the rare last-moment cooperation between the Democratic and Republican Parties and signed the bill into law early Thursday morning.
The deal was reached after 12 hours of tense negotiations between leaders of both parties in the Senate and the House of Representatives. Although the deal is only a temporary agreement for a couple of months, it eases the political conflict that forced a number of government agencies to shut down earlier this month.
This latest development in the US budget struggle has positively affected the US stock market. The Dow Jones industrial index and the S&P 500 rose 1.4%.