US House passes govt spending bill to avert shutdown

House Speaker John Boehner holds a news conference at the US Capitol in Washington, March 21, 2013. The US House of Representatives on Thursday approved a budget blueprint. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives on Thursday voted to approve a government spending bill to avoid a shutdown of the federal government before a two-week recess of lawmakers.

By a vote of 318-109, the lower chamber of the US Congress approved the stopgap spending bill to fund the federal government through the end of September, also known as a continuing resolution in the US government budget language, one day after the bill sailed through the Senate.

Without the approval of this six-month funding legislation by two chambers of Congress, the US federal government will run out of money on March 27. The bill largely keeps the $85 billion of spending cuts in the 2013 fiscal year ending on Sept 30, the so-called "sequester".

The House passage cleared the last major hurdle of keeping the government in operation until the end of the current fiscal year, and sent the bill to President Barack Obama for signature into law.

The passage of the short-term funding measure allowed lawmakers to shift their focus on passing the 2014 fiscal year spending budget of the federal government. The Republican-led House and Democrat-controlled Senate each unveiled a budget proposal earlier this month, which are unlikely to be passed by the other chamber due to divisions of the two budget versions.

The House on Thursday also voted to approve the budget blueprint proposed by Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee. The budget plan has slim chance to pass the Senate, as it called for significantly reducing income tax rates and repealing the Obama healthcare law.