The House of Representatives on Saturday passed a Republican-sponsored 45-day stopgap government funding resolution with the help of Democrats in a bid to avert a looming government shutdown.

The Senate passed a spending bill Saturday night averting a government shutdown that would have triggered a calamitous domino effect on the American public and economy.

The threat of a federal government shutdown ended late Saturday night after Congress approved a temporary funding bill to keep federal agencies open until Nov. 17.

By David Morgan, Moira Warburton and Makini Brice WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Congress passed a stopgap funding bill late on Saturday with overwhelming Democratic support after Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy backed down from an earlier demand by his party's hardliners for a partisan bill.

The U.S. seemed to be barreling toward what would have been one of the largest government shutdowns in history -- until a stopgap 45-day funding bill was hastily passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden on Saturday night,