Congress votes to end US shutdown, avoid default

“We fought the good fight. We just didn't win,” conceded House Speaker John Boehner as lawmakers lined up to vote on the bill.

At the White House, Obama hailed the Senate's vote, saying that once the measure reaches his desk, “I will sign it immediately. We'll begin reopening our government immediately and we can begin to lift this cloud of uncertainty from our businesses and the American people.”

Less than an hour later, as debate began in the House, Republican Rep. Harold Rogers 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 stock market surged earlier Wednesday at the prospect of an end to the crisis that had threatened to shake confidence in the U.S. economy overseas.

More than two million federal workers—those who had remained on the job and those who had been furloughed—would be paid under the agreement.

Boehner and the rest of the top Republican leadership told their rank and file they would vote for the measure. But he vowed Republicans were not giving up on the fight to bring down U.S. debt and cripple “Obamacare,” as the president's signature health care overhaul is known.

“Our drive to stop the train wreck that is the president's health care law will continue,” Boehner said in a statement.