US Senate passes $1.1 trillion spending bill

The US Senate has passed a 1.1 trillion dollar spending bill with increased budgets for vast areas of the federal government. These include health, education, law enforcement and veteran's programs.

The spending bill includes 447 billion dollars for departments' operating budgets, and about 650 billion dollars in mandatory payments for federal benefit programs.

The FBI gets 7.9 billion, a 680 million dollar increase over 2009.

The Veterans Health Administration budget goes from 41 billion to just over 45 billion dollars.

The bill also approves a 2 percent pay increase for federal workers.

Democrats say the spending is critical to meet the needs of a recession-battered economy. But Republicans are unhappy with the prospect of another jolt of deficit-swelling spending.

The package, one of the last essential chores of Congress this year, now goes to President Obama for his signature.

Meanwhile, Director of the White House National Economic Council, Lawrence Summers, says third quarter growth of the gross domestic product marked a statistical end to the recession. He added that jobs have to be the top priority in the coming year.

Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., left, and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., confer following the vote and passage of the $1.1 trillion spending bill on Capitol Hill in Washington, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2009. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg)