Senate Passes Debt Deal

Just one more step to go now: The Senate passed the debt ceiling bill this afternoon as expected and sent it along to President Obama for his quick signature, reports MSNBC. The legislation, which passed 74-26, allows the ceiling to be raised just ahead of the midnight default deadline. It calls for more than $2 trillion in budget cuts over the next decade and establishes a bipartisan committee to find future cuts. The markets aren't exactly overwhelmed: The Dow was down about 100 points at mid-day after weak data on consumer spending, notes MarketWatch. (More Senate stories.)