Hooray, the crisis has been averted. After weeks of rhetoric and childish behavior, our politicians actually did their job and passed a bill that would reopen the government and raise the federal debt ceiling, or the amount of money the government can borrow. Both chambers passed the law with only hours to go until the United States would reach said limit. President Obama signed the bill into law shortly after it was approved by congress. If the United States had reached that limit, it would default on its debts, which essentially means it wouldn't have the ability to pay back it's lenders. This, in turn, would lead to yet another hit to the United States' credit rating and possibly another world-wide recession. Federal workers should be expected to return to work on Thursday morning. Federal parks are also expected to reopen promptly.
But, there is a catch to this entire deal. The bill senate passed is ephemeral; it only extends debt cushion through February 7th of 2014. Because our politicians fail at negotiating, they just kick the can down the road, so expect this same discussion within a couple months. The sick patient that is America has been given another morphine shot rather than any long-time treatment. But hey, President Obama is optimistic that we won't be in this situation again soon, saying "No" when asked if he believed America would be n the same political quagmire in a few months.
Related articles
- House floats bill to re-open government, force Obama, Biden into Obamacare... (washingtontimes.com)
- Congress passes debt ceiling bill to end US government shutdown (abc.net.au)
- US default: Senate reaches deal to end government shutdown (telegraph.co.uk)
- Legislation passed by Senate to end shutdown now awaits House vote (wtvr.com)
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