US House Passes $1.2 Trillion Spending Bill to End Partial Government Shutdown

Washington D.C. The US House of Representatives passed a $1.2 trillion spending bill late Tuesday evening. The bill was ultimately passed by a narrow margin to end the partial government shutdown. The vote was 217 in favor and 214 against. Now, the bill will become law after President Donald Trump signs it.

This spending bill secures the budget until September 30 for major federal programs including defense, labor, education, and healthcare services. However, only a two-week interim budget has been allocated for the Department of Homeland Security. This budget for the Department of Homeland Security is only valid until February 13. This gives Congress an additional two weeks to reach an agreement on immigration reform and laws related to the Department of Homeland Security.

The budget dispute between Democrats and Republicans escalated amid rising incidents of death and injury from immigration officers' shootings in the US recently.

Democrats are demanding the introduction of a new transparency act to regulate the immigration agency ICE and the Department of Homeland Security. Amid this dispute, the government has allocated a short-term budget for the Department of Homeland Security.

With the passage of this bill, government operations, which had been partially shut down for four days, have resumed. However, political negotiations regarding immigration practices are still expected to continue.