New Delhi, Aug. 8 -- The Senate on Saturday (8 August) passed a stopgap spending bill to avert a government shutdown at the end of September, in a bipartisan effort to head off a major spending skirmish before the midterm elections.

Senators approved the stopgap measure by 90 votes to six, with one member voting present, extending current funding levels well past the original 30 September deadline. The bill also blocks the Trump administration from shifting funds toward Border Patrol, a restriction Democrats had made a condition of their support.

Whether the agreement, hashed out among senators, can clear the House remains uncertain, though members there are said to share the same reluctance to risk a shutdown before November.

What sto...