Budget Deal Avoids Government Shutdown

Published April 9, 2011
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Less than an hour before the federal government would have been forced to shut down, President Barack Obama announced that leaders in both parties had reached a budget agreement.

"Tomorrow, I'm pleased to announce, that the Washington Monument, as well as the entire federal government, will be open for business," Obama said at 11:04 p.m. EDT. "And that's because today Americans of different beliefs came together again."

The agreement calls for "the largest annual spending cut in our history," Obama noted. "Like any worthwhile compromise, both sides had to make tough decisions and give ground on issues that were important to them. And I certainly did that."

The agreement will allow small businesses to get the loans they need, families to get the mortgages they applied for, and hundreds of thousands of Americans to show up at work and take home their paychecks on time, including the nation's brave men and women in uniform, he said.