RALEIGH -- President Barack Obama has signed a measure lifting the federal debt limit without any conditions after the legislation passed through the House and Senate.  Many Tea Party Republicans voted against raising the debt ceiling.

Democratic US Congressman David Price, of North Carolina, says the Tea Party typically protest anything that involves increasing spending, "Because they have made a big thing of attaching conditions to what should be just a routine vote."

North Carolina's 2nd District Representative, Republican Congresswoman Renee Ellmers, says she did not vote for the measure but there were not enough votes to bring about any of reform. Ellmers said, "Every effort was put forward to put a debt ceiling vote forward for Republicans to vote for that would also have some spending cuts and reforms in it. And every plan that was put forward did not come up with 218 votes."

The Treasury Department is now free to borrow regularly through March 2015.