US House approves plan to avert federal shutdown

The House gave final approval Thursday to legislation to avert a federal shutdown and keep the government funded through September, and passed a Republican budget blueprint that enshrined the party’s vision of a balanced budget that would substantially shrink government, privatize Medicare and rewrite the tax code to make it simpler and flatter.

The House passed the $984bn spending bill by 318 to 109.President Obama is now expected to sign it on his return from the Middle East, averting another economic standoff between the White House and Congress.The Senate bill only covers funding for the next six months, leaving the bigger battles over debt and spending still to be resolved.The bill makes no attempt at reopening the row over $8bn in automatic spending cuts. But it does reorder priorities so that some federal departments will be less hard-hit than originally planned.

The House bill proposed providing a bigger share for the Pentagon, along with other departments the Republicans regard as vital. The Senate bill sticks with these, but expands the circle of favoured departments. The departments facing some protection now includes: Defence, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, the FDA, Commerce and Science.The extra funding for these departments means cuts in other departments.The Senate bill had been in danger of being delayed as senator put down more than 100 amendments that would have protected pet projects or favoured departments. In the end, there were only votes on 10 of them.The bill only covers spending up until September 30. The Senate is working on a separate budget for next year and this could be completed by Friday. The House has a separate budget bill based on the proposals put forward by Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's running mate last November. The two sides' budget proposals are still far apart.