WASHINGTON, December 12 (Sputnik) – The US House of Representatives has passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill just hours before the government's spending authority was due to expire, which could have led to a shutdown.
Earlier on Thursday, House speaker John Boehner expressed confidence that the bill would pass Congress, which is now fully controlled by Republicans, despite some objections from Democrats.
The bill will fund most of the US federal government through September, 2015, but because of the Republican's resistance to Obama's executive order on immigration, the Department of Homeland Security will only be funded through February. This will allow House and Senate Republicans to revisit the immigration reform issue and challenge it next year.
Last year, Congress could not agree either on an annual federal budget or a short-term funding bill, which led to a partial US government shutdown.
