Senate passes last-minute spending bill

After passing alast minute stop-gap measure to avert a government shutdown, the US Senate finally passed a 1.1 trillion spending bill for fiscal year 2015 late Saturday night, ending a week of acrimonious back and forth debate.

The measure was approved by a margin of 56-40, and the White House has indicated that President Obama will sign the bill, funding the government through the end of September 2015.

The bill survived a symbolic attempt by Senate Republicans to challenge the president's new immigration policy that provides amnesty to millions of immigrants facing the threat of deportation.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz, blamed by many on both sides of the aisle for the government shutdown in October 2013, again earned the ire of both parties by pushing the Senate to vote on the administration's policy on Friday night.

"I've seen this movie before, and I wouldn't pay money to see it again," said fellow Republican Johnny Isakson, and Orrin Hatch, the Republican senator from Utah, remarked that Cruz seemed to have no goal other than "irritating a lot of people."

He lost his attempt 74-22, and his actions led outgoing majority leader, Democrat Harry Reid, to call an all-day Senate session on Saturday for approving not only the spending bill, but also more than 20 presidential nominees for judicial and administrative posts, which Republicans have long been trying to stall. This paved the way for Vivek Murthy to become the new surgeon general, a post left empty and filled by an interim position holder since July 2013.

Everyone unhappy

The final spending bill left both some liberals and some conservatives seething. Twenty two Democrats voted against the measure; furious that it revokes a regulation on Wall Street banks put in place after the 2008 financial crisis, as well as a political campaign funding cap.

The new budget also removes funding from the US tax agency, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency. It also blocked a plan by the Obama administration to transfer suspected terrorists from Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba to the United States.

Approved measures

Republicans were upset that they did not manage to cut funding allocated to upholding Obama's amnesty plan for undocumented immigrants, which envisions granting work visas to approximately 5 million people.

The approved measure also provides 5 billion dollars for fighting the "Islamic State" terror group and 5.4 billion dollars for fighting the ongoing Ebola crisis in West Africa, slightly less than the six billion Obama was aiming for.

There was also a pension provision which opens the door to cutting benefits for as many as 1 million retirees currently receiving money from shaky multi-employer funds. Critics argue that this will hurt pensioners and pave the way for further retirement cutbacks.

The spending bill was the final item on the Senate's year-end agenda, and exposed fissures not only between but within the two major parties. Although Republicans were split on the way to challenge Obama's immigration policy, they vowed to take the matter up again when they take become the majority party in January.

es/jm (AP, AFP)