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Senate Passes Budget Deal to Raise Debt Ceiling — Here Are the 18 Republicans Who Voted for It

Senate Passes Budget Deal to Raise Debt Ceiling — Here Are the 18 Republicans Who Voted for It

The U.S. Senate voted 64-35 early Friday morning to approve a budget deal that would raise the debt ceiling through 2017, effectively ending the threat of a government shutdown until after the 2016 presidential election.

18 Republicans ultimately joined with the Democrats to push the legislation through Congress and send it to President Barack Obama's desk for his signature.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) were among the Republican senators who voted in favor of the deal.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) had vowed to filibuster the deal, but was unable to successfully stop it after the same 18 Republicans joined with the Democrats to invoke cloture. Nevertheless, the libertarian firebrand and Republican 2016 contender railed against the deal in a fiery Senate floor speech before the final vote.

“The establishment in Washington is completely and utterly tone-deaf to the way America feels about this,” the Kentucky senator said.

Earlier, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) compared approving the budget compromise to giving Obama a "diamond encrusted glow in the dark AmEx card" that would be paid off by future generations.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) voted against the deal and motion to invoke cloture, but did not deliver a speech on the subject.

The agreement would raise the government debt ceiling until March 2017, removing the threat of an unprecedented national default just days from now. At the same time, it would set the budget of the government through the 2016 and 2017 fiscal years and ease punishing spending caps by providing $80 billion more for military and domestic programs, paid for with a hodgepodge of spending cuts and revenue increases touching areas from tax compliance to spectrum auctions.

The House approved the legislation on Wednesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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