After days of painstaking negotiations and barbed insults, Democratic and Republican congressional leaders announced on Friday night that they had come up with a stopgap measure to keep the federal government from shutting down.
"Senator Reid and I and the White House have come to an agreement to cut spending and keep the government open," House Speaker John Boehner said.
The dramatic announcement came with just over an hour to go before thousands of federal workers were due to be furloughed and a range of government services from FBI investigations to passport renewals were due to be scuttled.
While the deal must still be approved by Congress and signed by the president, early indications were that majorities in both political parties would go along with the measure which is expected to cut $39 billion in spending from this year’s budget.
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