Government funding bill sails through House

Thursday, March 21, 2013

The U.S. Capitol (AP Photo / Lawrence Jackson)

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ANDREW TAYLOR

WASHINGTON -- The House has passed a huge stopgap spending bill to keep the government open through the end of September, sidestepping any threat of a government shutdown

The bipartisan 318-109 vote sends the measure President Barack Obama to be signed into law.

The measure would fund the day-to-day operating budgets of every Cabinet agency through Sept. 30, provide another $87 billion to fund overseas military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and maintain a pay freeze for federal workers.

The measure leaves in place automatic spending cuts of 5 percent to domestic programs and 8 percent to the Pentagon that will mean job furloughs for hundreds of thousands of federal workers but takes steps to ease the impact of those cuts to food inspection and college assistance for active duty military