The United States Senate just voted 91 to 9 in favor of the House-passed temporary spending bill. Like in the United States House of Representatives, where 100 Democrats broke with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the Senate vote proved to be bipartisan. The approved continuing resolution will keep the government running for two more weeks, until March 18, providing Congress more time to reach an agreement on the budget for the fiscal year, ending on September 30.
MSNBC writes, Members of both parties, while still far apart on the philosophy and methods of reducing government spending, signed on to the temporary measure to avoid the stigma of having cast a vote that would have shut down the government. The last government shutdown took place in 1996, under President Bill Clinton.
The continuing resolution cuts $4 billion from federal spending, and is said to be an abbreviated version of the Republican plan to cut $61 billion from federal spending over the next 7 months. Last month, House Republicans approved a spending bill that did just that, but the legislation was opposed by Senate Democrats and President Obama.
As noted by MSNBC, however, The $4 billion cuts over two weeks keeps up that pace of reductions, but was easier for Democrats to swallow because the reductions hit many programs Obama has already targeted in his budget proposal for next year. These include so-called earmarks, funding for special state projects that legislators often slip into larger spending bills.
Republicans are even toying with the possibility of cutting spending week by week if necessary.
Republican Representative Patrick McHenry has stated, If we keep cutting $4 billion every two weeks until the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30, thatll equal $60 billion in cuts that weve asked for in the House and I think thats a good deal.
President Obama is expected to sign the newly passed continuing resolution before the Friday deadline, when the former continuing resolution is set to expire.
Photo: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)
