Congress passes 2011 spending plan

Congress has passed the 2011 spending plan, ending a seven-month budget stalemate that resulted in eight stopgap spending bills—three of which came just hours before a partial government shutdown, USA Today reports.

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday a Republican debt-reduction plan would create “a nation of potholes” as he used the first events of his 2012 re-election bid to strike a sharp contrast with his opponents, Reuters reports.

“I laid out a plan to cut $4 trillion from our deficit,” Obama said. “It is a balanced plan that asks for shared sacrifice in order to provide shared opportunity for all Americans.”

Getting to a bipartisan deal to cut $38.5 billion in spending took more than six months and, at the end, weeks of intense staff negotiation. By Thursday afternoon, however, many House Republicans were wondering if it had all been for nothing. Christian Science Monitor reports.