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 Senate approved a 45-day stopgap funding resolution and President Joe Biden signed the measure into law late Saturday with only hours to spare before a government shutdown.

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 threat of a federal government shutdown suddenly lifted late Saturday as President Joe Biden signed a temporary funding bill to keep agencies open with little time to spare after Congress rushed to approve the bipartisan deal.

The House voted on an overwhelming, bipartisan basis, 335-91, for a short-term funding bill, known as a continuing resolution or CR; 209 Democrats and 126 Republicans voted yes, while 90 Republicans voted no.

The Senate passed a clean continuing resolution that originated in the House on Saturday, just hours before the federal government was set to run out of funding and shut down. The Senate voted 88-9 for the continuing resolution on Saturday night,