WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - With a Friday deadline looming to avoid a government shutdown, lawmakers in both the House and Senate approved a short-term spending bill Thursday to fund the government into the new year.
The GOP-controlled House voted 231 to 188 in favor of the bill, which funds the government at current levels until January 19th.
The vote largely came down along party lines, although fourteen Democrats voted in favor of the bill and sixteen Republicans voted against it.
House Republican leaders were reportedly able to secure support for the bill by subsequently holding a vote on an $81 billion disaster aid package, which passed 251 to 169.
The House vote was followed shortly by a vote in the Senate, which approved the stopgap spending bill 66 to 32. Seventeen Democratic Senators voted in favor of the legislation.
Most Democrats voted against the short-term spending bill due in part to its failure to include protections for immigrants brought to the country illegally as children.
President Donald Trump rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in September and Democrats have repeatedly called for a fix to protect the immigrants known as Dreamers.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., claimed the short-term spending bill would continue the anxiety in the lives of Dreamers, veterans, children and working families across America.
'Instead of addressing the urgent, bipartisan priorities of the American people, Republicans squandered this week on tax breaks for corporate America and the wealthiest,' Pelosi said in a statement.
She added, 'It had been our hope not only to improve the quality of this bill but to add the DREAM Act to it, which enjoys strong bipartisan support from the American people.'
Meanwhile, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., called it 'disappointing' that Democrats overwhelmingly voted against the bill.
'I hope that they will return in the new year willing to work with us to complete our work, most importantly to adequately provide for our men and women in uniform,' Ryan said.
The spending bill includes funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program and waives automatic cuts to Medicare and other programs that could have been triggered by the GOP tax reform bill.
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