US Congress Likely to Pass Budget Bill as Deadline Looms: House Speaker

The US Republican House Speaker John Boehner stated that the House budget bill is very likely to pass in US Congress before the deadline expires to avoid shutdown.

WASHINGTON, December 11 (Sputnik) – The House budget bill is very likely to pass in US Congress before the deadline expires at midnight, the US Republican House Speaker John Boehner said during a press conference on Thursday.

"Today I expect the house will pass a responsible bill to keep the government running," Boehner said.

Congress voted 214-214 on Thursday before their final vote later in the day, to move the budget forward for a final vote before it canbe brought to the Senate and then to US President Barack Obama for approval.

Although the $1.1 trillion spending bill faced resistance from the Republican and Democratic parties, Boehner assured the United States that it received bipartisan support and would not have any trouble passing through the House.

"I expect this bill will receive bipartisan support and pass," Boehner said. "Remember this bill was put together in a bicameral bipartisan way and no members should have objections to it."

Ahead of the House vote on the bill, the Obama administration said on Thursday that they support the budget bill, but would like Congress to enact full-year appropriations legislation for all government functions.

The bill will fund majority of the federal government through September, but because of the Republican's resistance to President Obama's executive order on immigration, the Department of Homeland Security will only be funded through early next year. That will allow House and Senate Republicans to revisit the immigration reform issue and challenge it next year.

Last-minute arguments over the budget always stand in the way of a smooth approval. Last year, Congress could not agree neither on an annual budget nor a short-term funding bill to fund the government, which caused its shut down for over two weeks in October.