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Congress narrowly averts government shutdown

Posted at 8:03 PM, Dec 11, 2014
and last updated 2014-12-11 22:05:39-05

By Deirdre Walsh, Ted Barrett and Alexandra Jaffe

CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) — 9:57 p.m. EST update: Congress narrowly averted a government shutdown that was slated to take effect at midnight. The House approved a $1.1 trillion spending bill that keeps the government open through September. The Senate then agreed to a two day extension of current funding levels to give itself time to approve the House bill.

9:38 p.m. EST update: The House passed the spending bill 219-206.

9:37 p.m. EST update: The House has enough votes to pass the spending bill as voting continues.

The House on Thursday narrowly approved a massive $1.1 trillion government spending bill, despite objections from conservatives and liberals who opposed it.

The vote was 219-206.

Passage of the bipartisan measure — just hours before government agencies run out of money — should give it some momentum in the Senate, though the outcome in that chamber remains unclear. President Barack Obama is expected to sign it into law if it passes the Senate.

The bill would keep most of the government running through the end of September, but only funds the Department of Homeland Security through February, when Republicans have vowed to pass new restrictions on the agency responsible for carrying out Obama’s executive orders on immigration.

The vote followed personal pleas from White House officials — including Obama and Vice President Joe Biden — pressing congressional Democrats to advance the spending bill. White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough also urged Democratic lawmakers during a late-Thursday caucus meeting to vote for the bill because they would lose much of their leverage on future spending bills, lawmakers at the meeting said.

The vote capped a day of drama in the House. The chamber recessed for nearly seven hours as leaders scrambled to find votes to move the bill across the finish line. The chaos was fitting for a Congress that has already gone through one government shutdown and has been generally characterized by turmoil and inertia.

If anything, Thursday’s tumult highlighted the disconnect between Obama and congressional Democrats. Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, came out in strong opposition to the measure even as Obama was pressing her members to back it.

Democrats aligned with Pelosi took issue with policy provisions added to the bill addressing campaign finance reform and a key provision of the financial overhaul.

“This bill puts a big bow on a holiday gift for the Wall Street contributors who get special treatment in the provisions of this bill,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, said ahead of the vote. “It’s all about stuffing the silk stockings, and these people want to gamble with our money.”

Conservative Republicans, meanwhile, fought the bill because they were angry that it didn’t combat Obama’s executive action on immigration.

It became clear earlier Thursday that Speaker John Boehner would have a tough time getting the package through the House. The chamber barely approved a routine procedural hurdle that sets up a vote on the spending bill later in the day. In an unusual move, Boehner was called upon to provide a key vote so the House could advance to the bill.

Though congressional leaders worked on backup options in case this bill failed, the Office of Management and Budget still discussed contingency plans on Thursday if the government was unable to open on Friday.

CNN’s Dana Bash contributed to this story.

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