Senate passes debt ceiling deal, avoids default.

The US Senate has passed a bipartisan deal to lift the country's borrowing limit, averting a catastrophic default on its $31.4tn debt. The measure cleared the Senate by a vote of 63-36, a day after it passed the House of Representatives. President Joe Biden has said he will enact the measure into law. The agreement suspends the debt ceiling until 1 January 2025 and will result in $1.5tn in savings over a decade. The last time the US came this close to overshooting its debt ceiling, in 2011, the credit agency Standard & Poor's downgraded the country's rating.