The Senate is on track to clear the bill for President Barack Obama's signature after a 67-33 vote Tuesday in which it easily hurdled a filibuster threshold.

A bipartisan budget bill that would ease some but not all of painful budget cuts that would otherwise slam the Pentagon and domestic agencies has passed a pivotal test in the Senate.

A bipartisan budget pact is in the hands of the Senate, where it will encounter stronger but probably futile resistance from Republicans.

The legislation is designed to eliminate the threat of future government shutdowns like the one that took place in October and erase $65 billion in across-the-board spending cuts this year and next.

The agreement, among other things, seeks to restore $63 billion in automatic spending cuts affecting programs ranging from parks to the Pentagon.

Benefits for 1.3 million long-term unemployed people expire just three days after Christmas. Lawmakers say another 1.9 million people would miss out on the benefits in the first six months of next year.

The first year of automatic, across-the-board budget cuts didn't live up to the dire predictions from the Obama administration and others who warned of sweeping furloughs and big disruptions of government services. The second round just might.

On this, GOP budget guru Rep. Paul Ryan and top Senate Democrat Harry Reid can agree: There wont be a grand bargain on the budget.