US buget vote lifts shutdown threat

ROUGH CUT - NO REPORTER NARRATION

The U.S. Senate on Saturday passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill that lifts the threat of a government shutdown as Congress attempts to wrap up a two-year legislative session marked by bitter partisanship and few major accomplishments.

The Senate's 56-40 vote sends the measure to President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign it into law before an extension of federal spending authority expires at midnight on Wednesday (December 17).

Passage of the 1,603-page bill was a long, tough struggle in the Senate and the House of Representatives marked by weeks of closed-door haggling over controversial policy changes and bitter disputes over financial regulations and Obama's immigration order.

The legislation largely eliminates government shutdown worries for financial markets through next fall by funding most government agencies through September 2015.

The Department of Homeland Security will be treated differently, getting a fu