Congress votes to end US shutdown, avoid default

Harry Reid, the Democratic Senate majority leader, thanked Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader, for working with him to end what had become one of the nastiest partisan battles in recent Washington history.

“This is a time for reconciliation,” Reid said.

A long line of polls charted a steep decline in public approval for Republicans in the course of what Republican Sen. John McCain pronounced a “shameful episode” in U.S. history.

The deal ends the bitter standoff for now, giving both parties time to cool off and come up with a broader budget plan or risk repeating the damaging cycle again in the new year.

The crisis began on Oct. 1 with a partial shutdown of the federal government after House Republicans refused to accept a temporary funding measure unless Obama agreed to defund or delay his health care law, known as “Obamacare.” It escalated when House Republicans also refused to move on needed approval for raising the amount of money the Treasury can borrow to pay U.S. bills, raising the specter of a catastrophic default. Obama vowed repeatedly not to pay a “ransom” in order to get Congress to pass normally routine legislation.

The hard-right tea party faction of House Republicans, urged on by conservative Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, had seen both deadlines as weapons that could be used to gut Obama's Affordable Care Act, designed to provide tens of millions of uninsured Americans with coverage. The Democrats remained united against any Republican threat to Obama's signature program, and Republicans in the House could not muster enough votes to pass their own plan to end the impasse.