Trump reached a del with Democrats on debt limit

US President Donald Trump forged a deal with Democrats in Congress on Wednesday to extend the nation’s debt limit and provide government funding until Dec. 15, Reuters reports.

After meeting with congressional leaders from both parties at the White House, Mr Trump said he also agreed on a funding bill until mid-December that would avert a government shutdown, and disaster aid for Hurricane Harvey victims.

"We have an extension, which will go out to December 15th. That will include debt ceiling, that will include (short-term spending for the coming fiscal year) and it will include Harvey, the amount of money to be determined," Mr Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

If passed by the Republican-led Congress, the agreement will avert an unprecedented default on US government debt, keep the government funded at the outset of the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 and provide aid to victims of Hurricane Harvey, Reuters reported.

“It was a really good moment of some bipartisanship and getting things done,” top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer was quoted as saying.

While the deal staved off what had been expected to be a bruising political fight this month, there were no guarantees for agreement on longer-term moves in December.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, overridden by Trump during the meeting, said he would bring the deal to the Senate floor for a vote.

“The president can speak for himself, but his feeling was that we needed to come together, to not create a picture of divisiveness at a time of genuine national crisis,” McConnell told reporters.

The agreement was an uncommon instance of bipartisan compromise since Trump took office in January.

Washington has suffered through bitter partisanship that has at times left the US capital dysfunctional under Trump and his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama. Trump had tangled repeatedly with Schumer and top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi.

"Both sides have every intention of avoiding default in December and look forward to working together on the many issues before us," top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer and top House of Representatives Democrat Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.

”We agreed to a three-month extension on debt ceiling, which they consider to be sacred, very important. Always we’ll agree on debt ceiling, automatically because of the importance of it,” Trump said.

Conservative groups were aghast, accusing Trump of caving in to the Democrats rather than insisting on spending cuts to accompany the debt ceiling increase, and some hard-line Republicans expressed opposition to it.

The Treasury Department has said the ceiling must be raised in the next few weeks. If not, the government would be unable to borrow more money or pay its bills, including its debt payments. That could hurt the United States' credit rating, cause financial turmoil, harm the US economy and possibly trigger a recession.

Earlier in the day, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan had called the Democratic proposal for a three-month increase "a ridiculous idea" that would "play politics with the debt ceiling."