Senate votes overwhelmingly to end shutdown, debt limit debate

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A photo provided by the Smithsonian’s National Zoo shows a giant panda cub undergoing an exam. The photo was released after the beloved panda cam was turned back on after the government reopened. (Bill Clements / Associated Press)

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Vice President Joe Biden greets Environmental Protection Agency workers with muffins as they return to work after 16 days of a government shutdown. (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press)

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Park Service workers carry a barricade that was used to close the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the morning after the government shutdown ended. (Mark Wilson / Getty Images)

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Barricades used to close the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial lie dismantled on the morning after the government shutdown ended. (Mark Wilson / Getty Images)

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House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) walks to the House chamber for a vote on the budget deal. (Alex Wong / Getty Images)

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The final vote total of 285-144 in the House of Representatives on the bill to avoid a national default and end the 16-day government shutdown. (C-SPAN / Associated Press)

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House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) pumps his fist after leaving a meeting of House Republicans at the Capitol. (Win McNamee / Getty Images)

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The final tally after the Senate voted to avoid a financial default and reopen the federal government. (CSPAN / Associated Press)

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Democratic Sens. Harry Reid, Charles Schumer, Patty Murray and Richard Durbin attend a news conference after voting on a budget deal. (Alex Wong / Getty Images)

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Activists stage a “die in” outside the federal building in San Francisco to protest the government shutdown and proposed cuts to Medicare, Social Security benefits, as well as child care, food, disability and senior advocate programs. (Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)

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Administration spokesman Jay Carney in the White House Press Room after the announcement of a Senate deal to end the government shutdown and extend the debt limit. (Mark Wilson / Getty Images)

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House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) after a news conference on Capitol Hill. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

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At a Capitol Hill news conference, from left: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Assistant Minority Leader James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles). (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)

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A congressional staffer brings in pizzas as talks continue in the Capitol to end the government shutdown. (Alex Wong / Getty Images)

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Protesters in front of the White House demand an end to the government shutdown. (Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images)

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A crowd gathers at the World War II Memorial during a rally to demand the reopening of national memorials closed by the government shutdown. The demonstration was supported by military veterans, tea party activists and Republicans. (Andrew Burton / Getty Images)

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House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) walks to his office on Capitol Hill. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

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House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) tickles John Griffin, son of Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Ark.), outside his office after a House vote. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) stands on the Senate steps on Capitol Hill. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

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Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, left, and Army Secretary John McHugh, right, watch an Army carry team move a transfer case containing the remains of Pfc. Cody J. Patterson at Dover Air Force Base, Del. Death benefits for military families were restored Wednesday. A deal with the Fisher House Foundation ensured that military death benefits would be upheld during the government shutdown. (Steve Ruark / Associated Press)

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A supporter of President Obama displays a placard in front of the White House calling for the end of the government shutdown. (Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images)

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Teri McLain wears a President Obama figure during a Capitol rally to urge Congress to end the government shutdown. (Mark Wilson / Getty Images)

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House Budget Committee Chairman Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) heads for a House Republican caucus meeting at the Capitol. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

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AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka speaks during a protest held by furloughed federal workers outside the Capitol. (Win McNamee / Getty Images)

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President Obama speaks on the government shutdown and the budget and debt ceiling debates in Congress during a visit to M. Luis Construction in Rockville, Md. (Saul Loeb / AFP/Getty Images)

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A Capitol Police officer walks past a statue of Gerald Ford, president during the 1976 shutdown of the federal government, in the Rotunda while the Capitol was closed to tours. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images)

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Nelly Mathov, 79, holds a sign while protesting the government shutdown outside the federal building in Los Angeles. (Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

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A veterans motorcycle group, some holding police line tape, visit the closed World War II Memorial after ignoring barriers surrounding the entrances. (Karen Bleier / AFP/Getty Images)

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A woman views the Jefferson Memorial from behind barricades in Washington. (Karen Bleier / AFP/Getty Images)

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A police officer passes in front of the Washington Monument and World War II Memorial in Washington. (Olivier Douliery / McClatchy-Tribune)

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Vicki Maturo of Culver City protests the government shutdown outside the federal building in Los Angeles. (Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

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The White House seen behind a stop sign during the first day of the government shutdown. (Karen Bleier / AFP/Getty Images)

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Reporters check their smartphones while waiting outside House Speaker John A. Boehner’s office on the eve of the government shutdown. (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images)

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A National Park Service employee posts a sign on a barricade closing access to the Lincoln Memorial during the first day of the government shutdown. (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)

By Lisa Mascaro, Michael A. Memoli and Brian Bennett

Oct. 16, 2013 5:15 PM PT

WASHINGTON -- By an overwhelming vote, the Senate passed a budget compromise Wednesday night that would temporarily reopen federal agencies and allow the Treasury to continue borrowing to pay the nation’s bills, averting the possibility of a default that could have seriously damaged the economy.

The legislation now goes to the House, which was expected to follow suit later Wednesday night. Federal agencies could begin reopening in the morning, although full operation in some cases could take longer.

The vote, 81 to 18, approved an agreement negotiated by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). It ends a political standoff that shut down federal programs for 16 days and led to the furlough of hundreds of thousands of federal workers.

The deal makes no significant changes in President Obama’s healthcare law, which Republicans had previously demanded.

FULL COVERAGE: The U.S. government shutdown

Earlier, Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said his Republican majority in the House would not block the bill and would, for now, end its campaign to extract concessions on the healthcare law and other federal spending.

“The House has fought with everything it has to convince the president of the United States to engage in bipartisan negotiations aimed at addressing our country’s debt and providing fairness for the American people under Obamacare,” Boehner said in a statement.

“That fight will continue. But blocking the bipartisan agreement reached today by the members of the Senate will not be a tactic for us.”

Under the deal, furloughed federal workers would receive back pay. The deal also includes a provision, previously approved by the Senate, that would allow officials in flood-damaged Colorado to tap federal emergency highway money to repair roads.

One change in the healthcare law was included in the legislation, requiring the government to verify the income of those Americans who receive financial help in buying insurance on the new healthcare exchanges the law established. Democrats said they had no objections to the provision because it largely repeated language already in the law.

The temporary nature of the agreement all but ensures another budget battle this winter, unless Congress drafts a new agreement at that time.

QUIZ: Test your knowledge of the debt limit

Under the legislation, the nation’s nation’s $16.7-trillion debt limit would be suspended until Feb. 7 to allow continued borrowing. The Treasury Department would be able to use “extraordinary measures” to temporarily pay bills after that date, meaning that the next debt ceiling crunch would probably not occur until some point in the spring.

The deal also calls for Congress to establish a conference committee made up of members of both houses to try to work out a spending plan by Dec. 13. The goal would be to avert another round of automatic “sequester” cuts that many in both parties want to avoid. Congress did not give federal agencies flexibility that some lawmakers had sought for handling that next round of cuts.

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