Congress Passes Bill to Avert Shutdown

Busy day on Capitol Hill. The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a $984 billion spending bill to avoid the looming government shutdown, which will keep the government funded through the rest of the fiscal year. The bill also cleared the Senate and will now head to President Obama’s desk. The bill moves some money around government agencies to help avoid the effects of the sequester. Meanwhile, the House also passed Paul Ryan’s budget, which offers sizable cuts to Medicare, repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”), and a plan to achieve a balanced budget within 10 years. It’s unlikely to go much further though: it pretty much has everything in it that President Obama campaigned against.