Congress Passes Short-Term Spending Bill, Avoids Shutdown

Congress passed a short-term funding measure Thursday to keep the federal government operating and avoid a shutdown next week.

With a vote of 318 to 109, the House approved the Senate-passed version of the $984 billion bill. The short-term funding measure cleared the Senate on Wednesday with a final vote of 73 to 26 and will fund the government through the rest of fiscal 2013, which ends Sept. 30. The current continuing resolution expires on March 27.

"Our goal is to cut spending and balance the budget to help our economy grow," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio., said in a release. "Passing this measure allows us to keep our focus where it belongs: replacing the president's sequester with smarter cuts that help balance the budget, fixing our broken tax code to create jobs and increase wages, protecting priorities like Medicare, and expanding opportunity for all Americans."

The bill now goes to President Obama for his signature to become law. Separately, House lawmakers also passed Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan's fiscal 2014 budget on Thursday with a mostly-party line vote of 221 to 207. That budget proposal from the Wisconsin Republican would overhaul the tax code without raising new revenue. It would balance the federal budget in 10 years by cutting spending by $4.6 trillion and avoiding tax hikes.

Senate Budget Committee chairman Patty Murray, D-Wash., was disappointed with the House-passed fiscal 2014 budget.

"Instead of moving toward compromise and a truly balanced approach to tackling our economic and fiscal challenges, House Republicans decided to double down on the failed policies that the American people rejected just a few months ago," Murray said in a release.

Murray's 2014 budget includes nearly $1 trillion in new taxes through closing loopholes and $1 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years. The Senate Budget Committee voted 12-10 along party lines last week to approve it and send it to the Senate. The budget is expected to be debated in the full Senate this week.

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