First Thing: US debt ceiling deal passes Senate, averting catastrophic federal default

Good morning. The Senate narrowly passed a bill to suspend the debt ceiling on Thursday night, sending the legislation to Joe Biden's desk and averting a federal default that could have wreaked havoc on the US economy and global markets. The final vote was 63 to 36, with 46 Democrats and 17 Republicans supporting the bill while five Democrats and 31 Republicans opposed. Sixty votes were needed to pass the bill. "Tonight's vote is a good outcome because Democrats did a very good job taking the worst parts of the Republican plan off the table," the Senate's Democrat majority leader,…