U.S. Senate Passes Spending Bill

The US Senate narrowly averted a partial government shutdown as the chamber approved spending legislation for several government agencies just hours before current funding was due to expire, according to Richard Cowan and David Morgan, as reported by Reuters.

The vote partially resolves a bitter, months-long battle over government spending that at one point left the Republican-controlled House of Representatives leaderless for three weeks. I Photo: Adam Schultz, The White House Flickr

By a bipartisan vote of 75-22, the Senate approved a $467.5 billion spending package that will fund agriculture, transportation, housing, energy, veterans, and other programs through the end of the fiscal year on September 30.

The package now heads to Democratic President Joe Biden to sign into law.

Funding for those programs was due to expire at midnight.

The vote partially resolves a bitter, months-long battle over government spending that at one point left the Republican-controlled House of Representatives leaderless for three weeks.

"To folks who worry that divided government means nothing ever gets done, this bipartisan package says otherwise," Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said ahead of the vote.

Taken together, the two packages would cost $1.66 trillion. Far-right Republicans had pushed for deeper spending cuts to tame a $34.5 trillion national debt.

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