Racing against the midnight deadline, Senate leaders on Wednesday finalised the much-awaited deal to raise the US debt ceiling and end the partial Government shutdown, but still faced the formidable challenge of getting the measure through both chambers and in time.
The bipartisan deal, announced on the floor of the Senate just as it convened around noon, seeks to reopen the federal Government and fund it till January 15, raise the national debt limit till February 7, set up a negotiating committee tasked with completing by December 13 a budget plan for the next decade.
The Congress's plan was to first put the deal through the House of Representatives, then take it to the Senate and, if passed by both, rush it to the White House for the President's signature before midnight.