WASHINGTON (AP) — After a sweeping vote by conservative Republicans controlling the House and President Barack Obama's Democratic allies, a bipartisan budget pact is in the hands of the Senate, where it will encounter stronger but probably futile resistance from Republicans.
The modest package passed by the House on Thursday would ease the harshest effects of another round of automatic spending cuts set to hit the Pentagon and domestic agencies next month. Supporters of the measure easily beat back attacks on it from conservative organizations that sometimes raise money by stoking conflict within the Republican Party.
At the same time, Democrats who were upset that the bill would not extend jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed suppressed their doubts to advance the measure to the Democratic-led Senate, where Obama's allies appear set to clear it next week for his signature.
The measure faces a key test vote on Tuesday in the Senate, when Democrats will need at least 5 GOP votes to overcome a filibuster hurdle. Minority Republicans are trending against the measure despite sweeping House GOP support on Thursday.
Senate Democrats promise to force a vote on extending unemployment benefits when the chamber reconvenes next year. They hope that political pressure after 1.3 million people lose their benefits on Dec. 28 will force GOP leaders to knuckle under and extend aid averaging under $300 a week to people who've been been out of work longer than six months.
The bipartisan bill breezed through the House on a 332-94 vote, with lopsided majorities of Republicans and Democrats alike voting in favor.
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, left, joined by House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, …
Thursday's vote was a big win for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who earlier in the day lobbed another salvo at conservative interest groups that routinely attack Republicans for supporting legislation they deem not conservative enough. But that is what Republicans can achieve given the realities of a divided Washington.
"If you're for reducing the budget deficit, then you should be voting for this bill. If you're for cutting the size of government, you should be supporting this budget," Boehner said. "These are the things that I came here to do, and this budget does them. Is it perfect? Does it go far enough? No, not at all. I think it's going to take a lot more work to get our arms around our debt and our deficits."
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida criticized the deal, saying it takes the country in the wrong direction.
"I mean, compromise just for the sake of compromise, so we can feel good about each other, I don't think is progress for the country," Rubio said Friday on CBS "This Morning."
"We have a government that continues to spend more money than it takes in at an alarming pace. That is going to trigger a debt crisis. It is stifling job creation. It is holding American ingenuity back," Rubio said.