Congress passes stopgap funding bill to avoid government shutdown

Congress
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On the last day of the fiscal year, Congress on Wednesday passed a temporary spending measure to keep the government up and running through December 11, averting a government shutdown. Though the bill passed easily in the Senate, its victory in the House came largely thanks to strong support from Democrats, who were locked in a partisan fight with Republicans threatening a government shutdown over federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

The bill now heads to President Obama's desk, where he is expected to sign it into law.

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Samantha Rollins is TheWeek.com's news editor. She has previously worked for The New York Times and TIME and is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.