On to the Senate: The U.S. Senate votes today at noon eastern on the deal to raise the debt ceiling and slash trillions in spending. Last night, the House of Representatives passed the measure 269-161, with one of those Aye votes coming from Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who dramatically returned to Washington for the first time since an assassination attempt nearly took her life in January. Rep. Giffords got a standing ovation as she walked into the House chamber -- her arrival brought a brief sense of unity to a process that had very little.
So Washington is doing the responsible thing, and disaster is averted. But at what cost? Voters have shown disgust over the wrangling but who will pay the greatest price? Will President Obama lose his liberal base (Gallup says he hasn't yet...) And economically, are we out of the woods yet or could we still face a credit downgrade? We'll have this story covered from all angles tonight on Hardball.
Politico takes a look inside the final negotiations between Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Joe Biden to find out how the deal got done. And Nate Silver of The New York Times writes about what the White House left on the table.