The government shutdown is dead. Obamacare is alive.

The Senate voted 81 to 18 Wednesday night to reopen the federal government and raise the nation's borrowing limit, hours before the Treasury Department faced the possibility of being unable to pay all of America's bills for the first time in modern history.

The House followed suit, voting 285-144, to end the latest damaging battle of divided government in a polarized Congress.

President Barack Obama said he would reopen the government immediately to "lift this cloud of uncertainty and unease" that settled on the nation and start fixing the damage.

"There is a lot of work ahead of us, including our need to earn back the trust of the American people that has been lost over the last few weeks," Obama said in a brief speech at the White House.

滬江英語快訊：美國國會參議院16日晚投票通過議案，給予聯(lián)邦政府臨時撥款，同時調高其公共債務上限。如果這項法案得到國會眾議院投票通過并獲總統(tǒng)奧巴馬簽署，美國聯(lián)邦政府非核心部門的關門風波可告結束。

參議院當天以81票贊成、18票反對的投票結果批準了議案。根據(jù)這一議案，聯(lián)邦政府各部門將獲得預算運營到2014年1月15日，同時把財政部發(fā)行國債的權限延長至2014年2月7日。