U.S. Congress rushes to avoid shutdown

Conflict-weary lawmakers eyed the U.S. Capitol exits Thursday as the Republicanled Congress rushed to approve a temporary spending bill to avoid a government shutdown and then sprint home for the holidays.

The wrap-up measure would allow the Republicans controlling Washington to savour their win on the $1.5 trillion tax package — even as they punt a full lineup of leftover work into the new year. Congress will return in January facing enormous challenges on immigration, the federal budget, health care, and national security along with legislation to increase the government’s authority to borrow money.

Each of those items is sure to test the unity that Republicans are enjoying now. Both sides were reluctant to work with each other in earnest while the battle over taxes raged. And then, with the tax war over, there wasn’t enough time or goodwill to work out differences elsewhere.

“The more stuff that’s pushed into January, it’s unfortunate because we’ll have to do this all over again,” said Republican Sen. John Thune of South Dakota. “But at some point we’ve got to make the hard decisions.” The House was also scheduled to vote before leaving on an $81-billion measure to deliver rebuilding aid to hurricane victims in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and other parts of the Caribbean as well as fire-ravaged states.