Senate Clears Way for Budget Deal

The budget plan compiled by Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington and Republican Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin has cleared one more hurdle on its way to passage. The Senate voted 67-33 on Teusday to end debate on the bill, easily passing the required 60 votes to break a filibuster. The new deal will restore funding to defense and domestic programs that saw cuts from the automatic, across-the-board cuts in the sequestration deal. In its place, the plan will trim military and federal pensions, enact cuts to Medicare providers as well as smaller items like ending federal research for fossil-fuel discovery efforts.