US senate passes $1.1tr government-wide budget

The U.S. Senate Thursday easily passed a $1.1 trillion bill easing the harshest effects of last year’s automatic spending cuts after conservative critics chastened by the government shutdown in October mounted only a faint protest. The sweeping 72-26 Senate vote to fund the government through September sends the bill to the White House for US President Barack Obama’s signature before a midnight Saturday deadline. The House of Representatives easily passed the bill Wednesday. The huge bill funds every agency of government, pairing increases for the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) and Army Corps of Engineers construction projects with cuts to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and foreign aid. It pays for implementation of Obama’s signature healthcare law.