The US Senate has passed a deal struck between Republicans, Democrats and President Barack Obama to increase the US debt ceiling and avert a default.
The bill passed the Senate by 74 votes to 26. Mr Obama is due to speak shortly and then sign the deal into law.
The bill raises the debt limit by up to $2.4tn (£1.5tn) from $14.3tn, and makes savings of at least $2.1tn in 10 years.
The deal was struck after months of fierce negotiations between the White House and lawmakers of both parties.
The vote came roughly 12 hours before Washington was due to run out of time. Without a deal to raise the debt ceiling the US would be unable to meet all its bills, according to the US treasury department.
Before the vote, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell praised the direction of the legislation, saying Congress had “engaged in an important debate” in recent weeks.
“The push-and-pull people saw in Washington this week was not gridlock, it was the will of the people working itself out,” Mr McConnell said.
“Together, we have a new way of doing business in Washington,” he added.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spoke after Mr McConnell, saying that though debt deal was not perfect, the US needed to avert the financial disaster that would have been caused by a default.
The legislation passed in the House of Representatives by a clear majority on Monday evening.
Triggers in place
The deal, hammered out over the weekend after weeks of feverish speculation, raises the debt limit by up to $2.4tn (£1.5tn) from $14.3tn, and makes savings of at least $2.1tn in 10 years.
In a key point for President Obama, the bill would raise the debt ceiling into 2013 – meaning he would not face another congressional showdown on spending in the middle of his re-election campaign next year.
The compromise deal deeply angered both right-wing Republicans and left-wing Democrats.
Liberals have been unhappy that the plan relies on spending cuts only and does not include tax rises, although Mr Obama could still let Bush-era tax cuts for the top brackets expire in January 2013.
House Republicans were displeased that the bill did not include more savings.
Announcing the deal on Sunday evening, President Obama said that, though it was not the one he would have preferred, it was a “serious down-payment” on the US deficit.
The deal would enact more than $900bn in cuts over the next 10 years.
It would also establish a 12-member House-Senate committee charged with producing up to $1.5tn of additional deficit cuts over a decade.
Economists have said that failure to pass the debt deal would have shaken markets around the globe.
