Congress passes budget deal to reopen government

The House passed a two-year budget deal just before dawn on Friday, matching Senate action hours earlier and ending a brief federal government shutdown.

By a vote of 240-186 that finished at 5:33 a.m., the House approved a spending plan that overcame opposition from deficit-hawk conservatives and liberals, unhappy that the bill didn’t include protections for Dreamers — undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.

“Ultimately neither side got everything it wanted in this agreement, but we reached a bipartisan compromise that puts the safety and well-being of the American people first,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement moments after passage.

The federal government shut down at the stroke of midnight after the Senate couldn’t pass the spending bill, over objections of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky).

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