"A breakthrough budget deal that avoids a government shutdown in January and blunts automatic spending cuts easily won passage in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, setting the stage for nearly two years of fiscal peace in Congress.
The 332-94 bipartisan vote sends the measure to the Senate, which is expected to pass it next week despite the objections of conservative political groups that complain it violates a core goal of cutting government spending.
The modest deal ends three years of partisan warfare in Congress over federal spending and taxes that fueled a 16-day government shutdown in October and twice brought the United States to the brink of default, rattling financial markets.
It was a victory for Republican House Speaker John Boehner, who has been continually stung by rebukes from the conservative, Tea Party wing of his caucus on fiscal issues. This time, however, he demonstrated that he could smoothly steer a budget compromise through the deeply divided chamber and that Republicans were capable of avoiding the brinkmanship that has marked the past three years.
"Is it perfect, does it go far enough? No, not at all," Boehner said of the budget deal during a day-long House debate.
"It's going to take a lot more work to get our arms around our debt and our deficit but this budget is a positive, positive step in that direction," he added.
The pact approved on Thursday does nothing to stem the worrisome growth of the $17 trillion federal debt, but it locks in spending levels for two fiscal years, eliminating the threat of another federal shutdown until October 1, 2015.
By allowing a $63 billion increase in spending on federal agencies and discretionary programs over two years in exchange for other budget savings, it reduces the harmful effects of the across-the board sequester cuts that have hit every government program from medical research to military weapons development".
Source: Reuters
