President Obama signs bill to re-open federal government

US President Barack Obama has signed a measure into law that allows the re-opening of the federal government and averts a potential debt default. The bill, approved by the Senate and House of Representatives and signed just one day before the U.S. Treasury exhausts its ability to borrow new funds, will allow hundreds of thousands of federal workers to resume work after being idle for 16 days. The deal offers only a temporary fix and does not resolve the spending issues dividing the Republicans and Democrats as it provides funds for the federal government until January 15 and raises the debt ceiling until February 7, 2013, so Americans may face a similar government shutdown early 2014.