WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- The House of Representatives approved a massive $820 billion catch-all federal budget bill Monday that contains funding for 11 of 15 federal agencies.
But the budget faces an uncertain future with Senate passage before next year not anticipated.
The bill contains $328 billion in new discretionary spending, much of it pork aimed at pleasing key constituencies and interest groups of individual lawmakers.
Approved 242-176 by the House, the measure faced opposition from a contingent of Democrats along with conservative Republican budget hawks. Both groups opposed the large amounts of pork spending during a time of immense budget deficits and some last minute and controversial Bush administration add-ons.
In the Senate, Democrats -- along with some GOP conservatives -- also share this sentiment
Despite the easy House approval, the measure faces a much tougher fight in the Senate where Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., has vowed to block passage of the bill on Tuesday without a full debate, which GOP leaders are trying to avoid.
The likely result is that budget will not be taken up again until the end of January, over three and half months into the federal fiscal year.
