WASHINGTON – The House voted Thursday to put the government on autopilot for six months, precluding a shutdown through the election and postponing a potential showdown on GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan’s agency budget cuts until next spring when Republicans hope to hold more power in Washington.

Ryan returned to the Capitol from the campaign trail to vote for the half-year measure, even though it spends billions of dollars more than the Wisconsin lawmaker’s budget plan, which has helped define the tight race for the White House.

The bipartisan 329-91 vote for the measure sends it to the Senate, which is expected to clear it next week for President Obama’s signature, capping a year of futility and gridlock despite a hard-fought budget deal last summer. Maine Reps. Chellie Pingree and Mike Michaud, both Democrats, voted with the majority.

“There is a lot in this budget bill that I don’t agree with, but it was important to make some compromises to keep the lights on and the government operating,” Pingree said. “I am hopeful that after the election, we can return and pass a bipartisan budget bill that better reflects the priorities of the country.”

The measure funds the operating budgets of Cabinet agencies that are financed annually by Congress through 12 appropriations bills. It would fund the government through March 27 and relieve lawmakers of the burden of trying to pass a catchall omnibus spending measure during a postelection lame duck session.

While taking the possibility of a government shutdown out of the equation, Thursday’s measure leaves in place the so-called fiscal cliff — a combination of automatic spending cuts and tax hikes set to slam the economy in January. More than $100 billion in cuts to defense and domestic programs alike are looming as punishment for the failure of last year’s deficit-reduction supercommittee to strike a follow-up bargain to last summer’s debt and budget pact between Obama and Congress.

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Passage of the measure is likely to be Congress’ last major act before lawmakers go home to campaign for re-election. Wrestling with how to avert the fiscal cliff is sure to dominate the lame duck session in November.

The temporary spending bill is needed to avert a government shutdown when the current budget year expires Sept. 30.

Typically, short-term spending bills freeze agency budgets at existing levels, but Thursday’s measure actually would permit an across-the-board 0.6 percent increase, in keeping with the budget deal.

MaineToday Media Washington bureau chief Kevin Miller contributed to this story.

 


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