After weeks of debating over Obamacare and the current debt ceiling, United States Congress passed a bill at 12:30 AM today to begin funding the government again, avoiding a global economic crisis by a hair.
The deal is considered a congressional defeat for Republicans, who walked away with next to nothing, The Independent says. The bill which reopens the government until January 15 includes almost no provisions to Obamacare, the health care program which Republicans sought to defund through the debt ceiling fight.
Lindsey Graham, Republican Senator of South Carolina, called the bill “a joke compared to what we could have gotten if we had a more reasonable approach [...] 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.”
President Barack Obama also called for a re-evaluation of American politics, reiterating that “we have got to get out of the habit of governing by crisis. There is no reason why we can’t work on the issues at hand, disagree while still being agreeable, and make sure we are not inflicting harm on the American people when we do have disagreements,” The New York Times quoted.
Thursday’s legislation, while taking pressure off the global economy, does not settle America’s debt ceiling debate. The bill will establish a bi-partisan committee to continue attempts to reach a consensus over budget and debt disagreements between Republicans and Democrats.
The bill will only fund the government until February 7, leaving Americans hoping we don’t see a repeat of this weeks-long episode of furloughed workers and congressional standstills.