US Senate approves emergency debt bill

The strong bipartisan vote was 74-26 with less than 12 hours to go before the deadline, and US President Barack Obama promised to sign the measure immediately.

The legislation allows the embattled US to make a down payment on taming its out-of-control budget deficit.

On Monday, the legislation to stop America defaulting on its loans was pushed through the House of Representatives - in a vote of 269 to 161 - just hours before Washington was due to run out of cash.

After months of sometimes bitter political wrangling, the leadership of both the Democratic and Republican parties moved behind the bill which was finally hammered out in last-minute negotiations over the weekend.

The deal cuts government spending by at least $2.1trillion over a decade and does not increase taxes.

The debt limit would rise by at least $2.1trn seeing the Treasury through the 2012 Presidential election.

As the vote got under way on Monday in the House of Representatives, Gabrielle Giffords made a surprise appearance - her first since being shot in the head earlier this year.

Members on all sides stood and applauded the Arizona Congresswoman who arrived unannounced and cast her vote in favour of the bill.

It was a rare moment of unity in a Congress that has seen little of that lately.

During the hour-long debate ahead of Monday's vote, not one member expressed satisfaction with the bill.

But all seemed to recognise it was the least bad option with the prospect of economic calamity on the horizon.

Without legislation in place by the end of today, the US had been in danger of losing its AAA credit rating.