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Democrats, Obama part on $1.1T spending bill
Congress Spending Werm
Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., left, and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., join other senators in a rush to the Senate floor on Capitol Hill Thursday for a procedural vote to advance the $585 billion defense bill. With a midnight Thursday deadline to keep the government running, a $1.1 trillion government-wide spending bill is teetering as many lawmakers find more in the measure to dislike than like. - photo by Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Swapping crisis for compromise, the House narrowly approved $1.1 trillion in government-wide spending Thursday night after President Barack Obama and Republicans joined forces to override Democratic complaints that the bill would also ease bank regulations imposed after the economy's near-collapse in 2008. The 219-206 vote cleared the way for a final showdown in the Senate on the bill — the last major measure of a two-year Congress far better known for gridlock than for bipartisan achievement. Hours before the vote, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi delivered a rare public rebuke to Obama, saying she was "enormously disappointed" he had decided to embrace legislation that she described as an attempt at blackmail by Republicans.
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