Senate, Spending Bill | featured news

The Senate approved legislation Wednesday to lock in $85 billion in widely decried spending cuts aimed at restraining soaring federal deficits — and to avoid a government shutdown just a week away. President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats rejected a call to reopen White House tours scrapped because of the tightened spending.

Republicans in the House of Representatives regrouped on Friday to approve a must-pass spending bill, but the prospect of a government shutdown loomed as Democrats said it would go nowhere in the Senate.

Senate leaders delayed until Wednesday consideration of a bill to fund the government through Sept. 30, as Democrats accused Republicans of reneging on an agreement to stage side-by-side votes on two competing plans to cut spending.

The House of Representatives passed a temporary extension of unemployment benefits and subsidized health insurance for laid-off workers on Wednesday as part of a $636 defense spending bill. The Senate will likely pass its defense bill with the same extensions on Friday, according to a Senate Democratic aide.

The U.S. Senate on Sunday approved $447 billion in spending for several Cabinet departments and other agencies for the 2010 budget year -- money needed to fund the federal government after this week.

A $447 billion bill that would fund dozens of U.S. government agencies through September cleared a procedural hurdle in the U.S. Senate Saturday and appeared to be headed for passage.

The Senate, tied up in a fight over a huge omnibus appropriations bill, will have to pass a stopgap spending measure Friday in order to avoid a partial government shutdown.