Cable Covers 11th Hour of Debt Deal, Government Restart

By Chris Ariens 

The president appeared in the White House briefing room this evening following the Senate vote, but before the House vote, on a budget deal that reopens the government and raises the debt ceiling. “I want to thank the leadership for coming together and getting this done. Hopefully next time, it won’t be in the 11th hour,” said the president.

As the statement came at 8:30pmET, during TV’s primetime in the Eastern and Central time zones, the broadcast networks did not produce special reports. The remarks, as well as near non-stop coverage of the debt deal, is being covered on cable news and business channels. Bret Baier took over coverage on Fox News from Bill O’Reilly around 8:20pm. CNN’s Anderson Cooper anchored from Washington and MSNBC’s Chris Hayes anchored coverage during his show. Fox News is planning live coverage into the night with live editions of “Hannity” at 10, Baier will be back at 11 and Megyn Kelly at Midnight.

CNN’s Piers Morgan was attending his own book party on the Upper East Side of Manhattan this evening, before shuttling back to host his show at 9pmET and another live edition at Midnight. Guests included ABC’s Diane Sawyer, CBS’s Charlie Rose, NBC’s Matt Lauer and CNN’s Chris Cuomo. Morgan wasn’t the only cable anchor holding court tonight. Across town, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews was late for his own book party as the votes were being cast, and he was still taping “Hardball.” We’ll have coverage from both events tomorrow on TVNewser.

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> More: The broadcast networks updated the evening newscasts for the West Coast. Also, at 10:18pm ET, NBC News provided a brief special report on the House vote. Brian Williams anchored live from New York.

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