Speed Reads
Shutdown Showdown Pt. 2
No government shutdown: Senate passes $1.1 trillion spending bill
After several procedural delays, the Senate used a rare weekend session Saturday to pass a $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund most of the federal government through the end of the fiscal year.
The Senate had been poised to vote on the measure Monday, but Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and a small group of conservative lawmakers upended the plan by trying to block funding for President Obama's immigration order. That forced the Saturday session, where the bill passed in a bipartisan vote, 56 to 40.
Federal funding was set to dry up at midnight last Thursday, but Congress passed an eleventh-hour, short-term measure to keep the government running through Wednesday.