WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has signed a six-month spending bill that cuts more than $38 billion from the current budget. The legislation averted a government shutdown and was the result of intense negotiations between the White House and emboldened Republicans.
The House and Senate approved the spending agreement Thursday.
With that compromise behind them, the White House and Congress are now plunging into a larger debate over long-term deficits and the rising national debt. The debt will reach its ceiling of $14.3 trillion in mid-May, requiring a vote from Congress to raise the nation's credit limit.
Republicans are using the vote as leverage to extract further spending reductions from the president. On Friday, he said more reductions were inevitable.
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