国际英语新闻：Obama signs $1.1 tril spending bill into law

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed into law a 1.1-trillion-dollar spending bill for fiscal year 2010, except for the Defense Department.

    The Democratic-controlled Senate approved the bill on Sunday. The year-end package that covers about half of all federal programs then went to President Barack Obama for his signature.

    The 1,000-plus-page bill brings together six of the 12 annual spending bills that Congress had been unable to pass separately because of partisan roadblocks even though the 2010 budget year began on Oct. 1 2009.

    The legislation includes 447 billion dollars of U.S. government agencies' operating budgets and about 650 billion dollars for Medicare and Medicaid benefits. But it does not include the Pentagon's spending, which is about 626 billion dollars.

    The unfolding financial crisis and economic recession have put the United States into a fiscal dilemma.

    Senators from the Democratic said the spending was critical to meet the needs of a recession-battered economy.

    Republicans criticized that the bill adds more burden to the federal deficit, which hit the record of 1.42 trillion dollars in the 2009 fiscal year ended Sept. 30.

    The Obama administration expected the federal deficit would reach 1.5 trillion dollars in fiscal year 2010.

    Also on Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted to raise the 12.1-trillion national debt limit by 290 billion U.S. dollars.

    As of Tuesday, the amount of debt on Treasury's books was 12.016 trillion. If the debt ceiling isn't increased by the end of this year, the nation could default on its debt.

    That would unleash a chain of events that could devalue U.S. bonds and seriously harm the U.S. reputation with creditors around the world, according to U.S. media.