Senate Approves Deal to End Government Shutdown !

The Senate voted 81-18 to reopen the federal government and lift the debt limit Wednesday evening, after an eleventh-hour agreement reached earlier in the day by Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The overwhelming bipartisan vote sets the stage for the end to the 15-day government shutdown hours before the federal government’s borrowing authority is set to expire. The House will vote on the measure later in the evening, where it is expected to pass with the help of Democrats.  Speaker of the House John Boehner conceded earlier Wednesday that his conference’s strategy to demand concessions in exchange for reopening the government had failed. “Blocking the bipartisan agreement reached today by the members of the Senate will not be a tactic for us,” he said in a statement.

In a statement in the White House Briefing Room after the Senate vote but before the House took up the measure, President Barack Obama said, “once this agreement arrives on my desk, I will sign it immediately.” Obama said he hoped that lawmakers in both parties would learn from the shutdown and swear off governing by crisis.

“I’m eager to work with anybody, Democrat or Republican,” Obama added, saying he have more to say about future budget negotiations after the agreement on Thursday. “I’ve never believed Democrats have a monopoly on good ideas.”

Asked whether he was concerned about this process repeating itself in just a few months, Obama replied simply, “no.”

The only votes against the measure in the Senate came from conservative Republicans, including Senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio, in addition to several members wary of primary challengers.

Before voting, the Senate approved the appointment of budget negotiators by unanimous consent after Senate Republicans dropped their longstanding opposition to beginning the process as part of the agreement announced Wednesday afternoon. The House will also appoint members to the conference committee, with a deadline for their report set for Dec. 13.

The agreement funds the federal government in place of an annual budget through Jan. 15, 2014 and lifts the debt limit through Feb. 7, 2014.

                                                                                                                 As reported in TIME !