Senate approves bill to avert national default, sending it to Biden's desk

The Senate on Thursday night capped four months of contentious debate and voted to send a compromise bill to President Biden's desk that extends the government's borrowing authority until January of 2025 and staves off a potential default next week. A large bipartisan majority of the Senate voted 63-36 to approve the bill, which passed the House on Wednesday night. The approval came after the Senate clinched an agreement to conduct a series of amendment votes on Thursday night and move directly to final passage. The normally slow-moving chamber raced through a dozen votes in just over three hours. "By…