After weeks of debate over the debt ceiling, Sunday night the compromise deal was agreed upon and the emergency legislation passed in the Senate this morning, 74 to 26.

According to the Global Post, this bill will “bring an anticlimactic end to a months-long battle that featured closed-door negotiations, a half-dozen dueling plans, market worries and the risk that the United States would for the first time ever default on its debt.”

The legislation gives President Obama authority to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, starting next year, by at least $2.1 trillion within the next 10 years in exchange for budget cuts.

Without raising the debt ceiling, NAR President Ron Phipps worries that the housing market would be a topic that continued to stay sitting on the sidelines.

“The indecision in Congress [was] paralyzing progress on other fronts, and it [was] harming home buyer confidence and negatively affecting home sales,” Phipps said.

Now, “The country can move forward towards a housing and economic recovery,” Phipps added.

Bob Nielsen, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) says the NAHB appreciates the hard work by the White House, Republican and Democratic congressional leaders to resolve the debt ceiling crisis.

“This agreement will help to put our nation’s fiscal house in order and provide greater certainty to the business community so they can start hiring again,” Nielsen said. “The nation’s home builders stand ready to do their part to aid in the economic recovery. Building 100 single-family homes generates more than 300 jobs, $14.5 million in salaries and wages, and $8.9 million in federal, state and local tax revenue. As the economy continues to mend, restoring the health of the housing industry is essential to putting America back to work.”

While homebuilders can help make jobs and revenue, Washington needs to focus on huge spending cuts to put its fiscal house in order.

While there are no tax cuts included in this legislation, major credit rating agencies stated that they would downgrade the nation’s debt if the Treasury defaulted on any payments.