Congress, Obama end federal crisis
The budget deal fallout How the battle affects key elements
washington » Up against a deadline, Congress passed legislation lateWednesday to avoid a national default and end the 16-day partial government shutdown. President BarackObama signed the bill early Thursday.
The Senate voted first, a bipartisan 8118. That cleared theway for a 285-144 vote in the Republican-controlled House about two hours later on the legislation, which hewed strictly to the terms Obama laid down when the twin crises erupted more than three weeks ago.
The legislation would permit the Treasury to borrow normally through Feb. 7 or perhaps amonth longer and fund the government through Jan. 15. More than 2million federal workers would be paid — those who had remained on the job and
thosewho had been furloughed. LateWednesday, federal workers were told to plan to return to work Thursday. After the Senate approved the measure, Obama hailed the vote. “We’ll begin reopening our government immediately, and we can begin to lift this cloud of uncertainty from our businesses and the American people,” the president said. Less than an hour later, as debate began in the House, Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky., said, “After two long weeks, it is time to end this government shutdown. It’s time to take the threat of default off the table. It’s time to restore some sanity to this place.” The bill included a gift for Colorado: a $350million increase to rebuild the state’s highways damaged in September’s floods. The Federal Highway Administration can give a state only $100 million per disaster froman existing pot of money for disaster relief. Gov. John Hickenlooper estimates 50 Colorado bridges and 200 miles of highways need repaired. This could cost between $300 and $500 million. Also included was a measure to pay back all states that took on the expense to run national parks during the shutdown. Hickenlooper wired $362,700 in state cash to the federal government on Friday to bring back furloughed federal workers so he could re-open Rocky Mountain National Park. Republicans conceded defeat after a long struggle. “We fought the good fight. We just didn’t win,” said House Speaker John Boehner as lawmakers lined up to vote on a bill that includes nothing for GOP lawmakers who had demanded to eradicate or scale back Obama’s signature health care overhaul. “The compromise we reached will provide our economy with the stability it desperately needs,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Senate Republican leader MitchMcConnell, who negotiated the deal with Reid, emphasized that the deal preserved a round of spending cuts negotiated two years ago. As a result, he said, “government spending has declined for two years in a row” for the first time since the Korean War. Only a temporary truce, the measure set a time frame of early next year for the next likely clash over spending and borrowing. But for now, government was lurching back to life. In one example, officials met to discuss plans for gearing back up at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, where 307 employees remained at work during the shutdown and more than 8,000 were furloughed. After weeks of gridlock, the measure had support from the White House, most if not all Democrats in Congress and many Republicans fearful of the economic impact of a default. Boehner and the rest of the top GOP leadership told their rank and file they would vote for the measure, and therewas little or no doubt it would pass both houses and reach the White House in time for Obama’s signature before the administration’s 11:59 p.m. Oct. 17 deadline. That was when Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said the government could no longer pay all its bills. Tea Party-aligned lawmakers who triggered the shutdown that began Oct. 1 said they would vote against the legislation. Significantly, though, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and others agreed not to slow the bill’s progress. In remarks on the Senate floor, Cruz said the measure was “a terrible deal” and criticized fellow Republicans for lining up behind it.