Government shutdown averted! House passes $1.1 trillion bill just in time

On the verge of another government shutdown, the House managed to come in with a Hail Mary at the last minute, passing a $1.1 trillion bill on Thursday night, just hours before the deadline at midnight. More surprisingly, the rush to fund the government and dismiss Congress for the winter break brought together two unlikely allies, the hard-right conservative Speaker of the House John Boehner (R.) and President Barack Obama, who were forced to band together to shut down rebellious members of their parties.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - After being postponed for seven hours, the bill passed narrowly, just 219 to 206. Only 57 Democrats of 201 voted for the bill, and 67 Republican actually refused to pass it, one of the most clear signs to date that tradition party lines and leadership are changing.

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It was soon clear that the Republicans alone did not have enough votes in favor to pass the bill. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden then started calling on House Democrats to approve the bill while Republicans marshaled their own wary Representatives.

Over the last few years, Congress has repeatedly been unable to pass funding bills until the last minute. Up until 2013, they had been successful. The ultraconservative Republican splinter group, the Tea Party, managed to force a 16-day government shutdown in an attempt to stop or cripple the Affordable Care Act.

This move was widely criticized by the public, and GOP leaders promised it would not happen again.

But this bill drew ire from both parties. Democrats opposed the provision that raises the maximum amount that a single person can donate to political parties. While Republicans were angry that the bill did not defund Obama's massive amnesty plan.

Very few members of Congress and the White House believed that a government shutdown would be imminent, but as expected, the House did have to approve a bill that pushed back the deadline for the government shutdown by two days.

All-in-all, it seems Republicans have learned from the fallout that haunted them in the post-shutdown days, and Democratic leaders-mainly Obama-have felt the rebuke handed down from the people during the 2014 midterm.

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