Senate Sends 3-Week Funding Bill to Obama
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill Feb. 16. (AP)
Congress has approved $6 billion in spending cuts as part of legislation to keep the government running for three more weeks and give President Obama and congressional leaders time to negotiate a far more sweeping package of reductions demanded by Republicans.
The bill easily passed the Senate by a 87-13 vote, but patience is running out on both sides with stopgap funding measures that keep the government open for two or three weeks at a time.
The White House and Capitol Hill Republicans remain far apart on larger legislation to cover the day-to-day operations of the government until the 2012 fiscal year begins in October.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Government agencies have generally been operating at last year's levels for almost half of the budget year. But Thursday's measure -- combined with $4 billion in cuts from a two-week extension passed earlier this month -- means that Congress has cut $10 billion since Republicans took over the House in January.