Government Shutdown Ends As House And Senate Pass Budget, Debt Ceiling Bill; President Signs Measure Into Law

Update as of 12:38 a.m. EDT: President Barack Obama signed the bill into law some time after midnight, reactivating government services and bringing furloughed federal employees back to their jobs, media reports said.

The U.S. government shutdown is over.

Only hours before the United States Treasury ran out of money to pay U.S. debts, both the Senate and the House approved a bill to end the 16-day government shutdown by funding the federal government through Jan. 15 and raising the United States debt ceiling through Feb. 7. Reuters reports that the Senate passed the bill 81-18, while the House passed the resolution 285-144.

The proposal is currently on its way to the office of President Obama, who has promised to sign the 35-page bill “immediately.”

"Once this agreement arrives on my desk, I will sign it immediately," Obama said at a press conference on Wednesday night. "We'll begin reopening our government immediately, and we can begin to lift this cloud of uncertainty and unease from our businesses and from the American people."

Though the bill will only fund the federal government for a few more months, President Obama has promised that the nation will not experience a similar shutdown come January.