Senate Approves Bill to Stop Looming Government Shutdown

In a unanimous vote, the U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to clear a key procedural hurdle toward passing a stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown. The vote occurred after Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz staged a filibuster-styled speech in effort to defund President Obama's health care law.

Congressional members will now begin a debate on the House-passed stopgap spending bill, which includes a provision to defund the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as "Obamacare." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is expected to remove that language from the bill and return to the House later this week a clean stopgap measure to keep the government funded through Nov. 15.

"Every hour we delay here, we move closer to shutting down our government," Reid said after the vote, according to USA Today.

The overwhelming support for the procedural vote made it clear that the votes do not exist in Congress to defund the law. 

Once the Senate sends a revised version of the bill back to the House, House Speaker John Boehner will either reject it, approve it or amend it and send it back to the Senate with little more than 24 hours before a shutdown takes place. The House canceled a scheduled recess this week to return to Washington Wednesday.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew reminded Congress on Wednesday that the second budget battle looms in just three weeks, advising lawmakers the United States will hit its borrowing limit no later than Oct. 17.

Raising the debt ceiling requires a vote of congressional approval, however, failing to raise the debt ceiling would result in the U.S. defaulting on its debt payments for the first time in history.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama will likely talk with congressional leaders in the days ahead, but no specific meeting has been set.

"It would be irresponsible not to fund the essential functions of government out of ideological pique," Carney said.

While Obama is willing to discuss ways to forge a new spending plan, Carney stressed that the president would not negotiate over the debt ceiling; raising that limit will enable the government to pay bills in has already incurred. Otherwise, he said, the government will default on debts, damaging the national and global economy.

"The debt ceiling must be raised," Carney said. "This cannot and should not be a matter of negotiation."