U.S. House passes government spending bill to avert shutdown

WASHINGTON, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday voted to approve a government spending bill to avoid a shutdown of the federal government before a two- week recess of lawmakers.

By a vote of 318-109, the lower chamber of the U.S. Congress approved the stopgap spending bill to fund the federal government through the end of September, also known as a continuing resolution in the U.S. government budget language, one day after the bill sailed through the Senate.

Without the approval of this six-month funding legislation by two chambers of Congress, the U.S. federal government will run out of money on March 27. The bill largely keeps the 85 billion U.S. dollars of spending cuts in the 2013 fiscal year ending on Sept. 30, the so-called "sequester."

The House passage cleared the last major hurdle of keeping the government in operation until the end of the current fiscal year, and sent the bill to President Barack Obama for signature into law.

The passage of the short-term funding measure allowed lawmakers to shift their focus on passing the 2014 fiscal year spending budget of the federal government. The Republican-led House and Democrat-controlled Senate each unveiled a budget proposal earlier this month, which are unlikely to be passed by the other chamber due to divisions of the two budget versions.

The House on Thursday also voted to approve the budget blueprint proposed by Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee. The budget plan has slim chance to pass the Senate, as it called for significantly reducing income tax rates and repealing the Obama healthcare law. 

 美国国会通过本财年下半年预算案

新华网华盛顿３月２１日电（记者樊宇　蒋旭峰）美国国会众议院２１日通过本财年（截至２０１３年９月底）下半年的联邦政府预算临时拨款议案，从而避免了美国联邦政府可能于３月底出现的关门危机。

美国会众议院当天以３１８票对１０９票的投票结果通过了这份总额约为９８４０亿美元的临时拨款议案。这份议案已于２０日在参议院获批，因此经美国总统奥巴马签署后即可生效。

这份议案保留了本月初启动的本财年８５０亿美元政府减支的内容。根据美国民主、共和两党在１月初达成的所谓“财政悬崖”解决方案，８５０亿美元的政府开支削减计划在３月１日正式启动。

当天，国会众议院还通过了预算委员会上周提出的２０１４财年（始于２０１３年１０月）政府预算案。但由于这份预算案中降低税率和改革医保项目的内容遭到民主党人抵制，预计很难在民主党人占多数的参议院获得足够支持。

分别掌握美国国会参众两院的民主、共和两党近日针锋相对地提出２０１４财年政府预算案，两者内容迥异。在解除了政府关门的警报后，两党将把精力转向下一财年的政府预算。

近年来，美国两党围绕财政议题多次激烈交锋，联邦政府的正常预算流程受到冲击并多次出现关门风险，白宫提出的整个财年的预算案难以获批，美国联邦政府常年在为期数月或半年的临时拨款议案之下运行。