WASHINGTON, DC-Less than 24 hours after the House ofRepresentatives voted 269-161 to raise the debt ceiling by $2.1trillion, the Senate followed suit with a final vote of 74-26. Thebill now heads to President Obama’s desk for signature, a move heis certain to make after he anointed theagreement underpinning legislation on Sunday night asa viable approach.

The $2.1 trillion is enough to fund the government until 2013,after the elections. In exchange, lawmakers have specified $917billion in spending cuts over 10 years. Additional cuts will bedecided by a bipartisan panel of 12 members of Congress. If thecommittee cannot identify these savings, additional built-inspending cuts kick in.

Driving the bill was the specter of the US defaulting on itsdebt obligations, along with threats from rating agencies that adowngrade in the country's AAA credit rating was in the offing.That may still happen--the ratings agencies have made clear thatthey will be looking at whether the plan addresses the US’slong-term deficit.