Today, members of the Senate reached an agreement to put the pin back in the grenade - to reopen the government and extend the Treasury's ability to borrow money. The agreement will fund the government through January 15, and it would raise the debt ceiling until February 7. (For more on the debt ceiling, check out my previous post or Forbes' in-detail analysis.)
The Senate has assigned December 13 as the deadline for a detailed budget. Check out The New York Times article "Senate Paves Way To End Debt Impasse." The article discusses that the deal wasn't pretty for either side, but that "the deal... yielded virtually no concessions to the Republicans." Now, the Senate and the House are both working on translating the agreement into "legislative language." Both are expected to vote tonight.
CNN's article "Senate reaches deal to end shutdown, avoid default," covers the story and includes a video.
If you're curious as to what this means for stock investments, take a look at The Boston Globe's business spin, "Dow Surges on Debt Deal." Like the title says, the Dow (Dow Jones Industrial Average - an important stock market index) surges with the Senate's agreement.
So, for now, we've avoided a modern-day dystopia... But I'm sure come January and February, we'll see a similar sticky situation.
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