Congress approved a debt-limit compromise that prevents a U.S. default, sending the measure to President Barack Obama on the day the Treasury had warned the nation's borrowing authority would expire.

The Senate voted 74-26 for the measure, which raises the nation's debt ceiling until 2013 and threatens automatic spending cuts to enforce $2.4 trillion in spending reductions over the next 10 years. The House passed the plan yesterday.

Passage ends a months-long battle over spending that consumed Congress as lawmakers and the Obama administration negotiated to the last days to avert a potential default. Still, the compromise legislation defers decisions on the nation's finances to a bipartisan panel of lawmakers and may reduce government deficits only modestly while slowing economic growth.