Leaders from both, major political parties fanned-out across Capitol Hill Monday night to secure votes to pass the bipartisan debt deal bill, which would also raise the debt ceiling, and avert a U.S. Government default. The strongest opposition will occur in the House, but two-chamber passage is expected by 1 a.m. EDT Tuesday.
U.S. health insurance companies must offer women free birth control and other preventive health care services under Obama administration rules released on Monday, a historic decision supported by family planning groups and opposed by conservative groups.
The White House and congressional leaders scrambled for enough support from skeptical lawmakers on Monday to push through an 11th-hour deal to raise the U.S. borrowing limit and avert a devastating debt default.
The Obama administration announced Monday that private health insurers must pay for an assortment of women's health screenings, counseling and birth control. The benefits will begin on Jan 1, 2013 and will be offered "without cost-sharing" (no co-pay, co-insurance or deductibles).
Leaders of both parties, Democrats and Republicans, came to an agreement after they worked furiously to sell their rank-and-file members on a debt deal reached with President Barack Obama in a bid to end a political 'cat and mouse' chase that nearly undermined Americans faith in their political institutions.
President Barack Obama will continue to push for an extension of the payroll tax cut despite that not being part of a deficit-cutting deal reached by lawmakers, the White House said on Monday.
Observers say President Barack Obama should have pushed Republicans harder in debt deal negotiations. But the big mistake of Obama and Democrats wasn't raising the debt ceiling when they still controlled Congress in 2010.
Averting a U.S. debt default solves only the immediate fiscal problem for the West and its big creditors in Asia.
The next battle already looms on the legislative horizon: it's the battle over the 2001/2003 Bush tax cuts.
The military budget has not been spared in Congress' proposed debt deal bill.
With the debt deal negotiations done, the focus now shifts to the Republican-led House, where Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, will try to attract moderate Democrats to offset the likely high number of Tea Party House members who will vote against the bill. A Senate vote on the bill also could occur later Monday.
Brent crude futures hit a 6-week high on Monday, topping $120 a barrel, due to a relief rally after Washington reached a last-minute deal to escape default.
Gold fell more than 1 percent on Monday after President Barack Obama said lawmakers had reached a deal to cut the country's deficit, which, if approved, would remove the threat of a default on debt that has driven bullion to a record high.
The tentative deal to avoid a crushing debt default is at best a mild relief for the U.S. economy that nearly stalled in the first half of the year and has yet to show signs of any realistic pickup.
The White House has one important tool in its arsenal to influence congressional talks over further deficit reduction measures in the coming months: the expiry of Bush-era tax cuts at the end of 2012.
Investors boosted stocks and sold safe-haven assets on Monday, betting that a last-minute deal in Washington meant the U.S. economy would avoid default.
After months of vitriolic discord, Republican and Democratic lawmakers were expected to vote on Monday on a White House-backed deal to raise the U.S. borrowing limit and avert an unprecedented default.
Global financial markets reflected relief over the resolution of debt limit ceiling impasse in the U.S.
Japan's finance minister kept up verbal intervention against a rising yen even as a weak dollar won a reprieve on Monday as U.S. lawmakers reached an agreement to raise the debt ceiling and avoid a sovereign default.
Congressional leaders and President Obama reached a deal to raise the federal debt ceiling in an effort to avoid the first U.S. default but a series of crucial votes in both chambers of Congress remain before the President can sign it into law.
Japan's top government spokesman welcomed the U.S. debt ceiling agreement on Monday and said he hoped it would stabilise markets.
"The leaders of both parties, in both chambers, have reached an agreement that will reduce the deficit and avoid default," President Obama announced Sunday night. The long-awaited and momentous agreement would cut 1 trillion dollars from a 10-year budget and raise the debt ceiling to beyond the 2012 elections.
