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U.S. NEWS A3
Thursday 1 October 2015
Congress approves bill to keep government open
Continued from Front Rogers, R-Kentucky, chair- Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, is interviewed as he leaves
man of the Appropriations after a Senate vote on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015. Just hours before a
“Republican leadership Committee, during House midnight deadline, a bitterly divided Congress approved a stopgap spending bill Wednesday to
chose to abandon its con- debate. keep the U.S. government open — but with no assurance there won’t be yet another shutdown
stitutional power of the Tea party anger direct-
purse and to fund 100 per- ed at Boehner over the showdown in December. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
cent of President Obama’s Planned Parenthood issue
failed agenda.” helped prod the Ohio Re- in the budget. curbs that would effective- the drive to boost defense
Support from Democrats publican’s announcement The Pentagon and domes- ly freeze their spending at while Obama is demand-
also helped power the to step down. His deci- tic agencies all are still op- current levels. ing equal relief for domes-
measure through the Sen- sion — and other House erating under automatic Republicans are leading tic programs.q
ate, all of the opposition leadership races — have
coming from conservative highlighted divisions be-
Republicans. tween more pragmatic
Longtime lawmakers be- Republicans and hardline
moaned the chronic dys- conservative wing that is
function on Capitol Hill increasingly prominent in
and the collapse of the Congress, especially in the
annual appropriations pro- rough-and-tumble House.
cess that is supposed to be McConnell said Tuesday
wrapped up by now. that he and Boehner spoke
Democrats demanding with Obama recently and
a new budget deal have that he expects budget
blocked work in the Sen- negotiations to get under-
ate, while a fight over the way soon.
Confederate flag halted The turmoil in the House,
work in the House with only where many conservatives
six of the 12 annual spend- want to block spending in-
ing bills having passed. creases, is certain to com-
“It is to my great dismay that plicate the talks, which are
we are at this point again, likely to focus on swapping
requiring a temporary near-term budget increas-
Band-Aid to buy us time to es for the Pentagon and
do our duty,” said Rep. Hal domestic programs for lon-
ger-term saving elsewhere
Hurricane Joaquin gains force
by Bahamas, heads toward US
BEN FOX connaissance planes con-
Associated Press tinuously giving us data
MIAMI (AP) — Hurri- from inside the hurricane
cane Joaquin intensi- this morning, and we’re
fied Wednesday as it going to be throwing a lot
approached the small, more aircraft resources at
sparsely populated islands this problem over the next
of the eastern Bahamas few days because it still is
on a projected track that not certain whether or not
would take it near the U.S. Joaquin will directly im-
East Coast early next week. pact the U.S. East Coast or
Maximum sustained winds stay out to sea,” said Rick
reached 85 mph (135 kph) Knabb, director of the Na-
and extended 35 miles (55 tional Hurricane Center.
kilometers) from the center The hurricane was expect-
of the storm over the Atlan- ed to pass near the islands
tic Ocean, according to of San Salvador, Cat Island,
the U.S. National Hurricane Eleuthera and Rum Cay
Center in Miami, which on Thursday, close enough
predicted Joaquin would that it could bring tropical-
develop into a major hur- storm-force winds, storm
ricane in the coming days. surges, coastal flooding
Authorities in the Bahamas and 5-10 inches (13-25 cen-
prepared for a brush with timeters) of rain, said Geof-
the storm, with the center frey Greene, a senior fore-
expected to pass near sev- caster with the Bahamas
eral eastern islands. Fore- Meteorology Department.
casters were still gathering “We would be very con-
data to determine how it cerned about them,”
would affect the U.S. Greene said of the eastern
“We’ve got Air Force re- islands.q
