Stopgap Spending Bill Approved by Senate

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The Senate on Thursday approved another stopgap spending bill that cuts $6 billion more from the federal budget and keeps the government running until at least April 8, the Washington Post reports.

The bill passed 87 to 13. The House has already approved the legislation, so it now goes to President Obama, who is expected to sign it.

The bill would give House and Senate negotiators breathing room to try to hammer out a longer-term spending plan for the rest of the fiscal year.

An earlier stopgap bill passed in early March trimmed $4 billion in federal spending

The $10 billion in cuts so far are far short of the $61 billion the GOP-controlled House agreed to trim from the federal budget for the rest of the fiscal year. But the Democratically controlled Senate rejected the larger House bill, and the impasse over the budget has forced Congress to consider short-term measures until a compromise can be reached.

Following Thursday's vote, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said the modest trims would amount to $140 billion in savings over the next decade -- "All in all, a good day's work."

Filed Under: Senate, House, Democrats, Republicans, Congress, White House

Tagged: deficit, federal budget, spending, spending cuts, stopgap spending bill

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retie133

The taxpayers of this country are paying 2 billion a week plus interest in Afganistan and Jon Kyl calls this cut a good days work.Where do republicans find these fools?

March 18 2011 at 10:36 AM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down Reply

God Bless

I think theres ENOUGH BLAME TO GO AROUND prez, reps, dems, ( congress all of them voted theirselves a raise) prez wants choos choos . spend it as long as it does NOT COME OUT OF THEIR POCKET and it don,t . sock it to the working tax paying honest by the book people. example SRS. DID NOT GET A COST OF LIVING IN 2 YRS. YET"' they want to mess with it the poorest of the poor who have wked and pd their dues)PLEASE TELL ME EVERYTHING HAS NOT GONE UP SRS NOW MAKE CHOICES FOOD OR MEDS. If srs. can exist on next to nothing surely " they" can fix budget thats fair to ALL.

March 18 2011 at 10:01 AM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down Reply

Andy

For the last 2 years, the Democrat majority and the party of NO couldn't, wouldn't, didn't resolve the deficit or budget issue. Now the Democrat majority is still there, and has apparently become the party of NO also. The Republicans seem to enjoy playing the same game. Meanwhile the American people are neglected and politics goes on as normal. The US needs not partisanship in ruining (I meant running) our nation, but cooperation between both parties in the best interests of all the American people to solve our problems. 3 week extensions just don't resolve either. Call your Democrat and Republican Senators and Congressmen/women and tell them that Americans are tired of the partisanship, and that we want them to act in the best interests of all of us.

March 17 2011 at 10:52 PM Report abuse Permalink -1 rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Andy's comment

Nickolaus

How can they act "in our best interests" if they are not partisan? Budget items and one's ideology are partisan by default. It's impossible to "take partisanship out of it" and have YOUR interests represented. YOUR interests = a partisan political persuasion, either left or right.

March 18 2011 at 9:18 AM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down Reply