The Senate voted Tuesday to raise the government's debt ceiling and cut trillions of dollars from its spending, finally ending a fractious partisan battle just hours before the government's borrowing authority was set to run out.
The bill, which passed 74 to 26 after a short debate devoid of the oratorical passion that had echoed through both chambers of Congress for weeks, was headed for the White House, where President Obama was poised to sign it immediately.