Congress has approved the bipartisan budget deal that would cut spending to fund the government through the end of the year. The Senate passed the measure 81 to 19 following a House vote of 260 to 167. More than half of the spending cuts would hit education, labor and health programs. Congressional leaders say the deal will cut $38 billion, but the Congressional Budget Office estimates the actual savings will be less, at between $20 to $25 billion. Further, with the price of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan factored, the U.S. budget deficit will actually increase by more than $3 billion. The vote came as President Obama touted his plan to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over 12 years. Obama renewed his call to end Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

President Obama: “It’s important that we look at our tax code and find a way to work together to not only simplify and make the tax system fairer, but also that we use it as a tool to help us achieve our deficit targets. We can’t exempt anybody from these efforts, that it’s not appropriate for us to ask for sacrifices from everybody except for the two percent of Americans who are doing best, but rather we should ask everybody to participate in this effort to get our fiscal house in order.”