In a vote that was not very close, the U.S. House has passed the bill negotiated by President Biden and Speaker McCarthy to raise the debt ceiling and set the basic parameters for the federal budget for the next two years.
The final vote was 314 to 117, with more Democrats than Republicans actually voting Yea on the bill.
The bill suspends dealing with the debt ceiling for two years – in other words, past the 2024 election. It also puts some caps on spending, and makes some cuts on programs passed by the Biden administration over the past few years.
The bill now goes to the Senate, where leaders of both parties have said they will bring it up for a vote very quickly. Senator Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, noted that the bill would have to be voted on “as is” in order to beat the deadline laid out by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen as to when the country would begin to default on its debts.
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