The U.S. House of Representatives avoided a government shutdown on Thursday by narrowly passing a $1.1 trillion spending bill, despite objections from Democrats to the controversial financial provisions.
A vote on the measure was delayed for hours after Democrats fought provisions to roll back part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law while allowing more big money political donations. Conservative Republicans, meanwhile, objected the measure because it did not block funds for Obama’s recent immigration order, according to Reuters.
With just three hours to go until government funding expired, the House passed the measure with a vote of 219 to 206. The bill was approved with a single vote, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The debate put Obama against Pelosi, one of his most loyal allies in Congress, as his administration attempted to persuade Democrats to set aside their objections. The administration argued that if their attempts failed, the party would receive a worse spending deal next year when the House is under Republican control.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) used a floor speech to announce her opposition and deal a rebuke to Obama. She said Democrats were “being blackmailed” by Republicans to pass the measure.
[quote text_size=”small” author=”– Nancy Pelosi” author_title=”House Minority Leader”]
I’m enormously disappointed that the White House feels that the only way they can get a bill is to go along with this. That would be the only reason I think they would say they would sign such a bill.
[/quote]
The Senate will vote on the House bill on Friday, at which point President Obama is expected to sign it into law if it passes.
The bill would keep most of the government running through the end of September 2015, although it would only fund the Department of Homeland Security through February. Republicans have vowed to pass new restrictions on the agency that will be responsible for carrying out Obama’s controversial executive order on immigration, according to CNN.
