A last minute deal on budgetary spending between Republicans, Democrats and the White House reached late on Friday night avoided an imminent government shutdown.
Obama's statement was preceded by hours of negotiations and several meetings between Obama, the House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner and the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
"We have agreed to an historic amount of cuts for the remainder of this fiscal year, as well as a short-term bridge that will give us time to avoid a shutdown while we get that agreement through both houses and to the President," said Reid and Boehner in a joint statement.
"We will cut USD 78.5 billion below the President's 2011 budget proposal and we have reached an agreement on the policy riders," they said.
"In the meantime, the Congress passed a short-term resolution to keep the government running through Thursday. That short-term bridge will cut the first USD 2 billion of the total savings," the two Congressional leaders said.
The news was first broken by Boehner himself at Capitol Hill, less than 70 minutes before the imminent government shutdown.
"I'm pleased that Senator Reid and I and the White House have been able to come to an agreement that will, in fact, cut spending and keep our government open. Now the same cooperation will make possible the biggest annual spending cut in history," Obama said.
Washington - Social Security checks would still go out. So would tax payments and refunds for e-filed returns. FBI agents would still work. Mail would be delivered.
Hand-mailed tax returns would go unopened.
With no agreement to finance the government past Friday night, government agencies Wednesday made contingency plans for what would stay open and what would close. The key criteria for keeping government employees working is whether their office is critical to protecting life or property, or has another source of money, such as user fees.
Here's a list of how a shutdown would impact some parts of the federal government:
Military. Civilians at the Department of Defense. Those whose work helps protect life or property would keep working. "We expect a significant number of DoD civilian employees would be furloughed," the administration official said.
Internal Revenue Service. Income tax returns filed electronically would be processed. Payments would be collected. _ Mail. "We're self-funded," said Postal Service spokesman Gerry McKiernan. _ Social Security. _ Medicare. Would still make payments to beneficiaries "at least for a short period of time," according to the senior administration official.
FBI and other federal law enforcement. Would keep working.
White House. The president and vice president would keep working.
Air traffic. The Federal Aviation Administration refused to say whether it shut down air traffic, referring questions to the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Obama's statement was preceded by hours of negotiations and several meetings between Obama, the House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner and the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
"We have agreed to an historic amount of cuts for the remainder of this fiscal year, as well as a short-term bridge that will give us time to avoid a shutdown while we get that agreement through both houses and to the President," said Reid and Boehner in a joint statement.
"We will cut USD 78.5 billion below the President's 2011 budget proposal and we have reached an agreement on the policy riders," they said.
"In the meantime, the Congress passed a short-term resolution to keep the government running through Thursday. That short-term bridge will cut the first USD 2 billion of the total savings," the two Congressional leaders said.
The news was first broken by Boehner himself at Capitol Hill, less than 70 minutes before the imminent government shutdown.
"I'm pleased that Senator Reid and I and the White House have been able to come to an agreement that will, in fact, cut spending and keep our government open. Now the same cooperation will make possible the biggest annual spending cut in history," Obama said.
Washington - Social Security checks would still go out. So would tax payments and refunds for e-filed returns. FBI agents would still work. Mail would be delivered.
Hand-mailed tax returns would go unopened.
With no agreement to finance the government past Friday night, government agencies Wednesday made contingency plans for what would stay open and what would close. The key criteria for keeping government employees working is whether their office is critical to protecting life or property, or has another source of money, such as user fees.
Here's a list of how a shutdown would impact some parts of the federal government:
Military. Civilians at the Department of Defense. Those whose work helps protect life or property would keep working. "We expect a significant number of DoD civilian employees would be furloughed," the administration official said.
Internal Revenue Service. Income tax returns filed electronically would be processed. Payments would be collected. _ Mail. "We're self-funded," said Postal Service spokesman Gerry McKiernan. _ Social Security. _ Medicare. Would still make payments to beneficiaries "at least for a short period of time," according to the senior administration official.
FBI and other federal law enforcement. Would keep working.
White House. The president and vice president would keep working.
Air traffic. The Federal Aviation Administration refused to say whether it shut down air traffic, referring questions to the White House Office of Management and Budget.
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