Shutdown Ends as Congress Passes Funding and Debt Ceiling Measure

The federal government shutdown is over after 16 days of being closed for business Congress passed legislation on Wednesday that will re-open the government.

The Senate, on Wednesday with a midnight October 17  deadline looming, voted  first for the bipartisan supported bill 81-18.  The House of Representatives followed suit and passed the measure 285 -144 around 11 p.m Wednesday night.

The legislation would permit the Treasury to borrow normally through Feb. 7 or perhaps a month longer, and fund the government through Jan. 15. More than 2 million federal workers would be paid — those who had remained on the job and those who had been furloughed, according to the Associated Press.

President Obama said he plans to sign the legislation into law as soon as it reaches his desk at a late night press conference from the White House briefing room.

Locally Congressman Mike  Fitzpatrick  (PA-8) said in a statement about the deal  he “supports the Senate bipartisan compromise adding when Congress reassembles he intends to “push bills” that will protect consumers and  cut “harmful portions” of the Affordable Care Act.

Also adding  “… I am encouraged that the past two weeks have refocused the leaders of both parties to find lasting solutions to put our country back on track.  Within this compromise there is a framework to do that.  I hope that the frustration and fatigue of managing by crisis will get officials to the table with sincere resolve.”

Prior to the votes on Wednesday, Democratic Congressional Candidate Kevin Strouse (PA-8) attacked Fitzpatrick for his “decision to hold a fundraiser”  Wednesday night as “…a  slap in the face to the working families in Bucks and Montgomery Counties.”

“Coming just weeks after he recklessly sided with the Tea Party and broke his promise to avoid a government shutdown, Congressman Fitzpatrick has once again proven he is part of the problem and puts politics ahead of Pennsylvanians,”  Strouse added.

A number of recent polls have shown Congressional Republicans  taken a beating in opinion polls about the shutdown. A minor victory for the party is that individuals applying for health care provisions will be required  by the administration to verify the incomes of those seeking insurance subsidies.

The agreement raises the debt limit until February 2014, funds the government through January 2014 and establishes a joint House-Senate committee to make cuts to the federal budget.