The Debt Ceiling Bill Gets Passed By The Senate

So the government isn’t going up in flames today, but is this debt ceiling bill any better?

The U.S. Senate passed a last-minute compromise plan to raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling Tuesday, sending the bill to President Barack Obama to be signed into law only hours before what would have been an unprecedented default.

If the debt ceiling had not been increased before the end of Tuesday, Americans could have seen rapidly rising interest rates, a falling dollar and shakier financial markets, among other problems.

Regardless, the federal government could still face a credit rating downgrade.

The agreement — reached Sunday by Obama and congressional leaders from both parties — calls for up to $2.4 trillion in savings over the next decade, raises the debt ceiling through the end of 2012 and establishes a special congressional committee to recommend long-term fiscal reforms.

So…good news: the government doesn’t go into default and we’re still rolling.

Bad news: there are possibly $1.8 million jobs lost in the next year. Interest rates are still going up and government spending is getting cut. So, we’re still going to be in trouble for a while. At least the crisis was averted! Now we just need Obama to finally approve it.