Senate leadership agrees to deal to end shutdown, raise borrowing cap

Just hours prior to a potential default on American debt, Senate leaders have agreed on a bill to reopen the government and increase America’s borrowing cap. “The compromise we reached will provide our economy with the stability it desperately needs. It's never easy for two sides to reach consensus. It's really hard, sometimes harder than others. This time was really hard. But after weeks spent facing off across a partisan divide that often seemed too wide to cross, our country came to the brink of a disaster. But in the end, political adversaries set aside their differences and disagreements to prevent that disaster,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on the floor of the Senate.  The bill funds the government through January 15, and raises the US’ borrowing cap through February 7. Reid added that the budget concerns voiced by many Republicans in both houses of Congress will be addressed in a special committee. “As part of our agreement, in order to assure Congress continues the work of setting this country on a path of fiscal sustainability, this legislation instructs leaders to name conferees to a budget conference committee that will set our country on a long-term path to fiscal sustainability. And at present, I know that some say that's going to be hard. But what we do is hard here, and this is really hard, but I think we can get it done,” said Reid. If the bill passes the Senate, it would still need to be ratified by the House of Representatives before it goes to the White House to be signed in to law.