Biden signs temporary debt ceiling extension bill
CBSN
President Joe Biden has signed a bill granting a short-term extension of the debt ceiling, the White House announced Thursday evening. The bill, which raises the debt limit by $480 billion, is expected to keep the federal government funded through early December.
On Tuesday, the House passed the resolution along party lines, 219-206, with no Republicans voting for it. It cleared the Senate in a party-line, 50-48 vote last week, bringing an end to a weeks-long impasse between Democratic and Republican leaders while the risk of a first-ever default loomed. Eleven Senate Republicans joined all Democrats in voting to end debate on the measure, avoiding a filibuster and paving the way for final passage.
While the debt limit extension staves off a default on the nation's debt, it gives Congress just a temporary reprieve, as lawmakers now must find a way to address the debt limit by December 3.
President Joe Biden said France was America's "first friend" at its founding and is one of its closest allies more than two centuries later as he was honored with a state visit Saturday by French President Emmanuel Macron aimed at showing off their partnership on global security issues and easing past trade tensions.
The Consumer Federal Protection Bureau last week launched an inquiry into what the agency is calling "junk fees in mortgage closing costs." These additional fees, involving home appraisal, title insurance and other services, have spiked in recent years and can add thousands of dollars to the final cost of buying a home.
Retired Maj. Gen. William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic "Earthrise" photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90.