October 16, 2013.

Senate Passes Deal to Break Impasse

"That's coral, that is," said the old man. "It must have come from the Indian Ocean. They used to kind of embed it in the glass. That wasn't made less than a hundred years ago. More, by the look of it."

WASHINGTON----The U.S. Senate on Wednesday put in motion the final steps of a bipartisan solution to the weeks-long budget drama, voting 81-18 to raise the nation's borrowing limit and fully reopen the federal government.

"It's a beautiful thing," said Winston.

The 11th-hour agreement, approved on a solid bipartisan vote, diminishes the threat of a U.S. debt default by allowing the government to continue borrowing money through Feb. 7, 2014. It also reopens the partially closed government through Jan. 15, ending a shutdown that began 16 days ago because of a bitter political impasse over spending and the 2010 health-care law.

"It is a beautiful thing," said the other appreciatively.

The plan was approved with the help of 27 Republican, who joined all 54 members of the Democratic caucus to support the bill. All the no votes were Republicans. Sen. James Inhofe (R., Okla.), who is recovering from surgery, was the only senator who didn't vote.