IT'S OFFICIAL: Congress Has Avoided Another Shutdown

The Senate on Thursday easily passed the $1 trillion omnibus spending bill, avoiding a repeat federal government shutdown and keeping the government funded through the end of September.

The Senate passed the bill, 72-26.

The Senate's vote came one day after the House of Representatives easily passed the bill, 359-67. President Barack Obama has indicated that he will sign the bill.

The 1,582-page spending bill is comprised of all 12 individual annual spending bills thrown into one $1.012 trillion omnibus bill.

The bill was a result of a month of work from appropriators and their aides. It builds on last month's budget agreement that was brokered by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). Murray and Ryan chair the Senate and House budget committees and are the lead negotiators for their parties on the agreement.

The bill found some opposition while moving through Congress, namely from House conservatives and outside conservative groups. But even though most lawmakers admitted that the bill wasn't perfect, they were eager to get back to a more regular order.

"I'm pleased that Congress has come together to fill in the details of the framework Chairman Ryan and I agreed on in December and fund the government in a way that invests in families and communities across the country," Murray said in a statement after the vote Thursday.

"Moving forward I hope we will build on this bipartisan work rather than returning to the economic hostage-taking and artificial crises we saw far too much of last year."