US govt shutdown averted

washington — The Republican-controlled US Congress passed a short-term funding bill to keep the federal government running for four more weeks, averting a looming shutdown.

Members of the House of Representatives voted 231-188 for the bill and the Senate followed with a 66 to 32 vote.

The temporary funding extension — which lasts until January 19 — gives more time to lawmakers from both parties to reach an agreement on funding for the remainder of the 2018 fiscal year, which ends September 30.

Opposition Democrats had the numbers to block the Republican bill in the Senate, theoretically giving them the ability to leverage concessions.

Some Democratic senators opposed the measure because it did not address the fate of hundreds of thousands of young immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children — known as “Dreamers” — whose status has been thrown into doubt by President Donald Trump.

But the fact that the Senate majority leader has agreed to put a bill on the status of those immigrants on the floor in January may have encouraged Democrats not to stand in the way of the funding measure. In the House, some Republicans had threatened to vote “no” on the temporary funding bill because it does not fund the Department of Defense for the entire year.

Earlier in the day, Trump accused Democrats of trying to block the bill in order to close down the federal government — something that did not in the end occur.

“House Democrats want a SHUTDOWN for the holidays in order to distract from the very popular, just passed, Tax Cuts. House Republicans, don’t let this happen,” he tweeted.

“Pass the [bill] TODAY and keep our Government OPEN!”, he added. —