Congress sends landmark 2011 budget to Obama

Updated at 5:54 p.m. ET

The U.S. Senate passed the fiscal 2011 budget, 81-19, about a week after a showdown over federal spending threatened to shut down the government.

The action by Congress today clears the measure for President Obama's signature and ends the first major battle this year over spending by Republicans who rule the U.S. House and the Democrats who control the U.S. Senate and the White House.

The bill pays for government operations through Sept. 30 and cuts spending by $38 billion, making reductions in a host of areas.

The House has already moved on to a fight over a 2012 budget plan by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., that seeks to make dramatic changes in Medicare and Medicaid and reduce the deficit by $4.4 trillion over 10 years.

Updated at 5:46 p.m. ET

While the bill appears to be getting strong bipartisan support in the Senate, at least one Democrat is objecting to the hard-fought deal.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has voted "no" because the agreement strips funding for a provision he fought for in the nation's health care law. Under that provision, about 300,000 workers who didn't qualify for federal subsidies would have been able to get health insurance coverage through employer-financed vouchers.

Updated at 5:35 p.m. ET

The Senate is now voting on the landmark 2011 budget, after defeating attempts earlier today to block federal funds for Planned Parenthood and the implementation of the nation's health care law.

Updated at 3 p.m. ET

The U.S. House passed a bipartisan agreement reached by House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Obama to cut $38 billion in federal spending over the next six months.

The final vote on the fiscal 2011 budget deal was 260-167.

In the end, 179 Republicans and 81 Democrats backed the measure, which was agreed to late last week an hour before the federal government was slated to shut down.

Boehner, R-Ohio, lost 59 votes from his GOP majority.

The measure heads to the Senate, where Reid predicted it will pass and be sent to President Obama for his signature.

Updated at 2:55 p.m. ET

The time on the voting clock has officially run out in the U.S. House. The vote is 188-124, but 120 lawmakers -- mostly Democrats -- haven't voted on the budget deal.

Updated at 2:48 p.m. ET

The U.S. House is starting to vote on the 2011 budget deal. More than a dozen Republicans and Democrats apiece oppose the hard-fought agreement.

Updated at 1:35 p.m. ET

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, made his case this afternoon for approving the long-sought 2011 budget deal and defended its $38 billion in spending cuts as real and tangible.

"This stops the bleeding" of government red ink, he said on the House floor. "It starts us moving in the right direction. Does it cut enough? No. Do I wish it cut more? Absolutely. Do we need to cut more? Absolutely."

Boehner predicted before debate began that the bill would pass with a "bipartisan majority." Earlier today, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Democrats would help put the measure "over the top."

Our original post begins here:

The spending showdown that almost shut down the federal government will end today when Congress formally signs off on the plan to cut $38 billion over the next six months.

The final vote in the U.S. House could be close. A key question: How many Republicans will bail on House Speaker John Boehner, who negotiated the contentious agreement with President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid?

Boehner predicted he'll have enough votes to pass the budget for the rest of fiscal 2011. "I'll get there," he told Politico.

Several of the 87 freshmen Republicans who brought the party into the majority aren't so sure they'll be with Boehner at the finish line.

News reports in recent days make clear that conservative opposition to the plan has grown as details have emerged about what gets funded and what gets cut.

Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., is emblematic of the freshmen dissenters, who promised voters they would settle for nothing less than $100 billion in cuts in their first year in power. He is going to vote "no" today.

"We're making no progress in getting out of the red," he said in a statement. "The American people are looking for meaningful reductions that will actually make a difference to our $1.6 trillion deficit and our $14.3 trillion of debt."

Huelskamp and his colleagues are seizing on a report by the Congressional Budget Office that says the budget deal will save only $352 million, in part because there will be a $5 billion increase in Pentagon spending.

On the other side of the aisle, liberal Democrats aren't too pleased with the budget compromise, either. Though the agreement does not include some policy provisions Democrats opposed -- such as deep cuts to women's health initiatives and Head Start -- the impact will be felt in many federal agencies.

"This bill cuts the wrong things too deeply," Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., told NPR.