House OKs emergency spending bill
WASHINGTON - The House passed emergency short-term legislation Tuesday to cut federal spending by $4 billion and avert a government shutdown. Senate Democrats agreed to follow suit, handing Republicans an early victory in their drive to rein in government spending.
The bill that cleared the House on a bipartisan vote of 335-91 eliminates the threat of a shutdown on Friday, when existing spending authority expires. At the same time, it creates a compressed two-week time frame for the White House and lawmakers to engage in what looms as a highly contentious negotiation on a follow-up bill to set spending levels through the end of the current budget year on Sept. 30.
The Senate set a vote on the short-term measure for this morning, the final step before it goes to President Barack Obama for his signature. "We'll pass this and then look at funding the government on a long-term basis," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
The White House, which earlier in the day urged an interim measure of up to five weeks, stopped short of saying the president would sign the legislation.
"The president is encouraged by the progress Congress is making towards a short-term agreement," said Obama spokesman Jay Carney. "Moving forward, the focus needs to be on both sides finding common ground in order to reach a long-term solution that removes the kind of uncertainty that can hurt the economy and job creation."
House Republicans were more eager to draw attention to the bill that was passing with the acquiescence of the White House and Democrats than to the challenge still ahead.
"Now that congressional Democrats and the administration have expressed an openness for spending cuts, the momentum is there for a long-term measure that starts to finally get our fiscal house in order," said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.).
On the House floor, Democrats sharply attacked Republicans in the run-up to the vote, but much of the criticism was aimed at an earlier $61-billion package of spending cuts.
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