Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced that they had reached a bipartisan deal Wednesday afternoon that would reopen the government through mid-January and raise the debt limit until Feb. 7 if it can pass a vote in the House and Senate, according to the Washington Post.
The United States will be unable to borrow any more money at midnight; it is unclear if the bill will be able to be passed by both the House and the Senate and be signed into law by President Barack Obama before that deadline. This does not mean that the country will be in default, there is enough cash on hand to continue to pay bills as long as a deal is signed soon, according to the Washington Post.
The bill will also set up a conference committee tasked with solving fiscal issues such as whether or not cuts made during the sequester should be continued. None of the cuts to the Affordable Care Act that Republicans had been pushing for are included in the bill, according to the Washington Post.
The deal is being seen as a crushing defeat for Republicans who went all-in in an effort to defund President Obama's signature health care reform law. It has been suggested that House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, may lose his leadership position in the aftermath, according to Reuters.
"The deal we've go, you know the old saying 'We may have left a little bit on the table?' We left everything on the table," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said. "This has been a very bad two weeks for the Republican brand, conservatism.
"This package is a joke compared to what we could have gotten if we had a more reasonable approach," Graham continued. "For the party, this is a moment of self-evaluation, we are going to assess how we got here. If we continue down this path we are really going to hurt the Republican Party long term."
If the bill passes in the House it will return to the Senate for a vote where many were afraid that Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, an advocate of the shutdown who made a name for himself with a marathon speech on the Senate floor in September, would take action to delay the vote. Cruz has told reporters that he will not do so, according to USA Today.
"I've never had any intention of delaying the timing of this vote," Cruz said. "There is nothing to be gained from delaying this vote one day or two days. Unfortunately, once again, it appears the Washington establishment is refusing to listen to the American people."
