After 16 days of deadlock, Republicans and Democrats in Congress have finally reached an agreement to reopen the government and temporarily raise the debt limit. Early Thursday morning, Obama signed the bill that originated the Senate (81-18) and then made its way through the House (282-136). Rare bipartisan efforts led to several hours of legislative collaboration that culminated in this proposal.

Fortunately, the two parties ended their stalemate a day before the United States was forecasted to run out of money and forced to raise its borrowing limit. An estimated $30 billion in cash and some daily revenue were predicted to hold the nation until somewhere between October 22 and November 1 without any borrowing, presenting dire consequences for the world economy.

With the new legislation, the borrowing limit was increased until February 7, while the budget was extended until January 15. The bill also established negotiations for a spending plan for the remainder of the fiscal year 2014, and recompensed for the lost pay of furloughed federal workers. Nevertheless, some Republicans remain unconvincingly opposed to the proposal: Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a tea party representative who originally spearheaded the effort to refuse any proposal that didn’t defund Obamacare, noted that the compromise was terrible, and claims that the struggle against the Affordable Care Act will continue.

Executives in Wall Street are glad that the shutdown is over, especially considering the looming deadline of either raising the debt limit or facing default on Thursday. The stock market recuperated as soon as word of an agreement leaked out, with DOW escalating 200 points.

Even Obama lauded leaders in the Senate for putting aside their partisan disparities and reaching the agreement.

Looking at the crisis, what was actually accomplished? Well, 800,000 federal workers were furloughed, the already unstable economy suffered a shake, and the American people lost faith in their elected representatives. Though approval ratings went down for both parties as well as the President, the GOP took the greatest hit, perhaps as a result of their original attempt to link the debilitation of Obamacare with the federal budget. Nevertheless, none of the original Republican demands were met, leading to the question – what was the whole point of this shutdown?

(Source: CNN)