[00:00.10]From VOA Learning English,
[00:07.31]this is In the News.
[00:09.90]Late Wednesday night,
[00:11.94]the United States Congress approved a deal
[00:15.37]to end a partial government shutdown.
[00:19.31]The deal also increases the nation's debt limit.
[00:24.28]President Obama signed the bill into law
[00:27.82]shortly after midnight.
[00:30.20]The shutdown lasted 16 days
[00:33.45]and affected hundreds of thousands of federal employees.
[00:38.58]It was the first shutdown in 17 years.
[00:43.20]However, the deal to reopen the government
[00:47.09]will only pay for operations through January 15.
[00:52.41]And it only extends the debt limit until February 7.
[00:59.04]Extending the debt limit
[01:01.18]will let the government borrow enough money
[01:04.36]to pay for programs already approved by Congress.
[01:09.99]The Treasury Department said
[01:12.33]the limit needed to rise by October 17
[01:16.85]so that the United States
[01:19.15]could borrow enough money to pay all its bills.
[01:24.14]Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen announced
[01:27.82]the results of the vote in the House of Representatives.
[01:31.75]"On this vote the yeas are 285,
[01:34.74]the nays are 144, the motion is adopted."
[01:39.22]The pressure had been on House Speaker John Boehner.
[01:43.00]Earlier in the day, Mr. Boehner talked about
[01:46.45]what Republicans had been seeking.
[01:48.68]He spoke to radio station WLW
[01:52.42]in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.
[01:55.95]"We have been locked in a fight over here,
[01:58.24]trying to bring government down to size,
[02:00.63]trying to do our best to stop Obamacare.
[02:02.62]We fought the good fight, we just did not win."
[02:05.85]The shutdown began October 1 after House Republicans
[02:10.64]linked passage of a spending bill
[02:13.18]to an effort to block the health care law.
[02:16.91]Republicans hold the majority in the 435-member House.
[02:22.73]But the bill passed mostly with the votes of Democrats.
[02:28.12]Fewer than 90 Republicans voted for the bill.
[02:32.25]And none of their leaders came to the House floor
[02:36.13]to speak in the final debate.
[02:38.92]Democrats supported the bill after Speaker Boehner
[02:43.10]agreed to allow a vote without changing Obamacare.
[02:48.57]Earlier the Senate passed the same bill
[02:52.21]by a vote of 81 to 18,
[02:55.39]with strong support from Democrats and Republicans.
[03:00.02]Hours after signing the bill into law,
[03:03.31]President Obama noted "there are no winners here."
[03:07.90]"The last few weeks have inflicted completely,
[03:10.69]unnecessary damage on our economy.
[03:13.48]We don't know yet the full scope of the damage,
[03:16.82]but every analyst out there believes it slowed our growth.
[03:20.15]We know that families have gone without paychecks
[03:24.14]or services they depend on.
[03:25.73]We know that potential home buyers have gotten fewer mortgages
[03:30.36]and small business loans have been put on hold.
[03:33.04]We know that consumers have cut back on spending
[03:37.02]and that half of all CEOs say that the shutdown
[03:40.86]and the threat of shutdown set back their plans
[03:43.49]to hire over the next six months."
[03:45.83]Congress agreed to pay government workers
[03:49.43]for the time away from their jobs.
[03:52.07]But economists say some businesses affected by the shutdown
[03:56.89]will not be able to recover their losses.
[04:00.63]For example, the shutdown closed national parks.
[04:05.26]That cost nearby businesses when people canceled park visits.
[04:11.18]As part of the deal, House and Senate leaders
[04:15.02]have appointed a joint budget committee
[04:18.31]to negotiate a compromise spending plan.
[04:22.09]The goal is to reach an agreement by December 13.
[04:27.23]President Obama says,
[04:29.42]"We've got to get out of the habit of governing by crisis."
[04:34.10]He says with the shutdown over,
[04:37.28]attention should now turn to long-term budget concerns
[04:41.62]and issues like passing an immigration reform bill.
[04:47.14]And that's In the News from VOA Learning English.
[04:52.32]I'm Steve Ember.