In rare bipartisan action, Congress approves $1.1 trillion budget

CNN

(CNN) — The Senate on Thursday easily passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the government through September and sent it to President Barack Obama, a notable departure from chronic, partisan-fueled budget battles in recent years that included the government shutdown last October.

The decisive bipartisan vote, 72-to-26, concluded congressional action that for the first time since 2012 determined federal spending agency by agency instead of through temporary stopgap measures that spotlighted the divisiveness in Washington.

The House approved the budget measure on Wednesday in a strong bipartisan vote of 359-to-67.

“With very few exceptions we’ve heard nothing but positive comments from my colleagues here in the Senate,” Sen. Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, said on the Senate floor as the vote neared.