The legislation to temporarily suspend the $16.4 trillion limit on federal borrowing goes to President Barack Obama to be signed into law.
View full size
The Senate today passed legislation authorizing an increase in the national debt limit. The bill goes to the president to be signed into law.
Congress has approved must-do legislation to permit the government to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars more to meet its obligations, averting a first-ever government default that had loomed as early as mid-February.
The 64-34 vote in the Senate this afternoon sends the measure to President Barack Obama, who has said he will sign it into law.
The legislation would temporarily suspend the $16.4 trillion limit on federal borrowing. Experts say that would allow the government to borrow about $450 billion to meet interest payments and obligations such as Social Security benefits and government salaries.
Calculations by a Washington-based think tank, the Bipartisan Policy Center, indicate that the deadline for Congress to act again to prevent default would likely not come until August.
The Republican-controlled House passed the legislation last week.