President Barack Obama on Monday signed the country's budget bill, which will keep the U.S. government from default and averts the threat of a shutdown for two years, UPI reported. The "Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015" won broad support from Senate Democrats and concern from Republicans that the total spending package was too high, but a bipartisan spirit, and a deadline, prevailed in directing the bill to the president's desk. It passed in the Senate last week by 64-35, a vote held Friday at 3 a.m. In signing the bill Monday in the White House, Obama noted "the work that the Democratic and Republican leaders did to get this to my desk." "I think it is a signal of how Washington should work, and my hope is now that they build on this agreement with spending bills that also invest in America's priorities without getting sidetracked by a whole bunch of ideological issues that have nothing to do with our budget." The comprehensive bill extends the debt ceiling through 2017, increases federal spending by $80 billion, reforms some elements of the Social Security Disability Insurance program and changes certain provisions of tax law, among other elements.
