Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) — The House passed a $1.1 trillion bipartisan spending bill that would finance the federal government through Sept. 30 and avoid a repeat of October's partial shutdown.
Lawmakers voted 359-67 to send the measure to the Senate, which is set to pass it later this week. Because current funding had been scheduled to lapse tonight, both chambers passed a separate measure pushing the deadline to Jan. 18.
The White House-backed spending bill includes $1.01 trillion for U.S. government operations and additional funds for war financing. To reach an agreement, Republicans ceded on their demands to block funding for President Barack Obama's health- care law, while Democrats voted to spend far less than they proposed earlier this year.
"In this agreement, no one gets everything they want," Representative Nita Lowey of New York, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said in an interview today. "It's a good bill, a solid bill."
Lawmakers agreed on the $1.01 trillion base spending level in December as part of a two-year budget plan.
Today's bill would continue Congress's trend toward reducing discretionary funds. Spending in fiscal year 2010, including wars and disaster aid, totaled $1.275 trillion, according to the House Appropriations Committee. That compares with today's $1.1 trillion measure for fiscal 2014, which began Oct. 1 and runs through Sept. 30.
16 Days
After a 16-day shutdown in October and years of automatic spending cuts and stopgap bills that took the government from crisis to crisis, lawmakers said they were glad they were finally able to vote on a comprehensive plan.
"We ought to recognize that while we've had some partisan differences, the legislation was crafted in a bipartisan way," said Oklahoma Republican Tom Cole, chairman of the subcommittee that oversees legislative operations. "It's something that we frankly ought to take some pride in."
Appropriators in the House and Senate worked throughout the holidays to craft the bill, and they announced the agreement Jan. 13.
Several lawmakers complained they and their staff members didn't have time to read the whole measure. Massachusetts Democrat Jim McGovern said on the House floor he expected that lawmakers may soon learn it contains provisions they wouldn't have wanted.
Shutdown Alternative
