Congress Sends Obama Spending Stop-Gap, Fight Loom

The House approved it, 328-50, just hours after the Senate agreed, without dissent, to provide its needed concurrence.

The Democratic-controlled U.S. Congress on Friday sent President Barack Obama a bill to fund much of the government through Wednesday, after Democrats hit a snag wrapping up a $410 billion measure to pay for the rest of fiscal 2009 which ends Sept. 30.

Senate Republicans forced a delay after insisting that more amendments be considered, denying a victory to Senate Democrats who are anxious to finish up the 2009 business and start on funding for fiscal 2010, which begins Oct. 1.

Republicans have criticized the $410 billion measure as being too expensive and 8 percent over fiscal 2008 funding, while lawmakers on both sides have complained that it funds thousands of lawmakers' pet projects in their home districts.

Some senators are also upset that it begins to roll back some policies from the previous Bush administration, including relaxing some limits on travel and trade to Cuba and funding a U.N. family planning agency.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he was one vote short of the 60 needed to end debate and vote to pass the legislation on Thursday evening, acknowledging the power of a single senator.

"We have to work together," he said on Friday. "A significant number of Republicans wanted some more amendments."

So far no amendments have been adopted despite Republican attempts to slim down the measure and strip out some of the projects. They also argued some programs already received extra money in the $787 billion stimulus bill enacted last month.

Republicans in both the House and Senate have called for freezing spending at 2008 levels, an idea Democrats rejected. Another attempt in the House to do that on Friday failed.

"There is a storm brewing out in the hinterlands fueled by the public's disdain over the free-for-all spending of this Congress," said Representative Jerry Lewis, the senior Republican on the House Appropriations Committee.

The government is almost halfway through the 2009 fiscal year but because of conflicts with the Bush administration, Congress never finished most of the annual spending bills for the current year. Even as lawmakers try to wrap this up, Obama has already submitted his budget outline for fiscal 2010.