The US Senate passes a bipartisan debt limit bill to avoid a default after weeks of tense negotiations
Senators first considered 11 amendments. All were quickly rejected before the bill passed by 63 votes to 36
The bill suspends the US debt ceiling for two years, deferring the decision to raise it until after the 2024 presidential election
The US will begin defaulting on its $31.4tn (£25.2tn) debt if it doesn't raise the borrowing limit by 5 June
Some Republicans and Democrats opposed the deal between Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden, but not enough to derail it
The bill, which passed with support from 44 Democrats and 17 Republicans, will now go to President Biden's desk for his signature into law, averting a potentially catastrophic default.
You can read more about how the vote unfolded here.
Today's editors were Jude Sheerin and Marianna Brady. The writers were Sam Cabral and Chloe Kim, with analysis from Jessica Parker.
Jessica Parker
North America correspondent
It’s been a long evening. The repeated roll-calls of senators, to go through amendments, has given the impression of a slow pace.
But of course this legislation’s actually been expedited through the Senate due to Monday’s deadline.
That’s when the US Treasury says the country could run out of money to pay all its bills.
So this is, in relative terms, speedy stuff.
But watching these apparently calm proceedings unfold is somewhat at odds with the frantic political drama that’s played out in recent weeks.
It did seem, at points, as though a deal could prove elusive between senior Republicans and the White House.
But, as is often the way with political deals, an 11th-hour agreement was struck.
Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty missed the vote tonight.
According to a statement from his office, the Republican “flew home this afternoon to attend his son’s high school graduation ceremony".
Hagerty's absence did not affect passage of the bill, which narrowly passed the 60-vote threshold it required.
The bipartisan debt ceiling bill has just passed the Senate.
63 senators voted in favour and 36 voted against, with one lawmaker apparently not voting.
The 11 amendments have now been considered and we are moving on to a final vote on the bipartisan debt ceiling agreement.
Majority leader Chuck Schumer thanks his Senate colleagues for "co-operating" to get through the amendments.
He says voting on the debt deal is "something so important to the country".
"If we do this, we will not default," he says. "That is very, very important."
Louisiana Senator John Kennedy agreed to fast-track his last amendment, which would have used most up-to-date employment data in work requirements waiver applications.
He accepted a voice vote, which received relieved applause in the chamber.
Virginia Senator Tim Kaine proposed the only Democratic amendment, to strip a provision that green-lights the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
It will transport natural gas 300 miles (480km) from West Virginia to Kaine's home state.
"This is completely unrelated to the debt limit," he said.
West Virginia's Shelley Moore Capito opposes the amendment, saying it is "important infrastructure" that will provide jobs and tax revenue.
Fellow West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin also disagreed with Kaine, his colleague.
He said it was time to get this project done as it has been under review for eight years and it will be up and running in six months.
Kaine's amendment fails.
We are nearing the end of these amendments.
One proposed by Utah Senator Mike Lee raises issues with a provision in the debt deal that he says "undermines" claims of fiscal restraint.
His amendment, the conservative says, would "promote fiscal accountability and regulatory reform".
But his own Republican colleague, John Kennedy, calls the amendment "meaningless".
Lee had earlier vowed to use "every procedural tool" at his disposal to slow passage of this bill through the Senate, but he appears to have settled for a single amendment.
It, too, fails.
North Carolina Senator Ted Budd proposed rescinding additional Covid-19 pandemic relief funds.
He said some of those funds from 2020 remain unspent, which came from a "hardworking family's budget".
The amendment fails.
"Let's beat it," says Schumer, impatiently hurrying along his colleagues.
Senator Schumer is running a tight ship and tells lawmakers again to stay in the room so they can vote within the allotted 10 minutes.
Next up is an amendment related to defence spending from Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton.
Cotton, a US Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, objected to a budget cap on defence spending in the debt ceiling deal.
He said defence spending would be slashed by as much as $37bn under the current agreement and urged colleagues to adjust the cap.
Patty Murray, the Democratic senator for Washington state, pushes back that Cotton's amendment would hit non-defence spending that serves as a "lifeline to working families".
The amendment fails.
The debt ceiling has grown about 400% in 20 years
Under the debt ceiling compromise between the White House and congressional Republicans, work requirements will be raised on low-income Americans who receive federal benefits to buy food. But that provision will expire by 2030.
Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana just proposed an amendment to make it permanent, removing the sunset clause.
The Republican said "the American people are most generous people in world” and "if you are hungry we will feed you".
"However, those who can work should work,” he said. "The best social programme is a job."
Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow told legislators to vote no. She said Kennedy's amendment would only delay passage of the debt deal, resulting in a US default, job losses and raised interest rates.
The amendment fails.
We are nearly halfway through the Senate's amendments.
Missouri Republican Josh Hawley proposed one that called for "across-the-board tariffs" on goods imported from China until the US closes its trade deficit with its competitor.
In a brief speech, Hawley said the US had lost some four million blue-collar jobs shipped to China and must close "the most important deficit we face" before addressing any other.
The amendment failed.
Schumer is keeping a close eye on the clock, chiding senators when any amendment takes more than 10 minutes.
"We're slipping a little," he just barked at legislators milling about on the chamber floor. "Eleven minutes. Please stay in your seats!"
Senator Dan Sullivan, of Alaska, proposed increasing the defence budget instead of giving that funding to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
He said his amendment would offer protection to the American people, unlike the tax-collection agency.
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat, urged his colleagues to vote no, saying the extra funding for the IRS would enable it to provide "better service to taxpayers" and "end free rides for wealthy tax cheats".
That amendment also failed.
An amendment that calls for funding related to the US-Mexico border was just considered on the floor.
The provision, proposed by Kansas Senator Roger Marshall, called for restarting construction of the southern border wall, hiring thousands of new Border Patrol agents, and providing better technologies to detect illegal crossings and drug trafficking.
Marshall, a Republican, objected to the lack of border security funding in the debt ceiling deal.
As with other amendments so far, this one, too, failed.
The Senate is taking up the debt ceiling deal under an expedited process, where they will consider amendments and then the final bill.
None of these amendments are expected to pass - because, if they do, the bill must go back to the House of Representatives, meaning the US runs the risk of entering default on Monday before it passes.
Of the 11 amendments that will be considered tonight, only one is proposed by a Democrat.
That amendment, from Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, seeks to strip away a controversial energy project known as the Mountain Valley Pipeline from the bill.
The pipeline is backed by West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat who is frequently a thorn in his party's side, and its inclusion in the debt deal led to fewer Democratic votes in the House on Wednesday.
Other amendments include:
The Senate Majority leader just said he wanted to dispel rumors and assure people across the world that this deal does not limit funds used to deter US adversaries and respond to threats like Russia’s "evil" war of aggression against Ukraine.
The New York Democrat added that they were not abandoning national needs either.
He asked legislators to "please stay in your seats so we can finish this bill at a reasonable hour".
If the bill passes the Senate tonight, President Joe Biden will sign it into law this weekend - just in time before the looming default date of 5 June.
If the Senate agrees to add any amendments, the bill will have to go back to the House for another vote.
This would cause a big mess and basically guarantees the US would edge past the 5 June deadline with no resolution, potentially wreaking economic chaos along the way.
Image source, Getty ImagesSenate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer walks to the Senate chambers
Voting on the first amendment is underway.
US senators have proposed 11 amendments to the debt ceiling bill that the Senate must go through before they can vote on the final debt deal.
These amendments are expected to fail.
If any of the amendments unexpectedly pass, the bill will have to go back to the House of Representatives for another vote.
This could cause a major delay, which would almost certainly not allow the bill to be signed into law before Monday's default deadline.
The US government is estimated to hit its borrowing limit on Monday 5 June.
That has left little margin for delay or error as lawmakers race to prevent a default on the country's $31.4tn (£25tn) debt, which underpins the global financial system.
For several weeks, negotiators from the Democratic administration and congressional Republicans were mired in talks to raise the debt ceiling.
Over the weekend, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin inked a deal that would suspend the debt ceiling until 1 January 2025 and also secure modest spending cuts across the government.
The House of Representatives approved the deal on Wednesday by a vote of 314-117, despite some defections on both sides of the aisle.
Now the Senate must vote on the bill before President Biden can sign it into law.