The US House of Representatives gave hard-won approval to lift the debt ceiling, avoid default and reopen the government in a 285-144 bipartisan vote late Wednesday, adopting a measure approved earlier by the Senate, dpa reported.
The vote means that Congress has formally adopted the bill, which will go to US President Barack Obama for his signature. Obama signalled earlier that he would immediately sign the bill into law and begin reopening the government after its 16-day partial shutdown.
The lifting of the debt limit came just hours before the US Treasury's Thursday deadline, when it expected it would run out of money to pay the government's bills.