国际英语新闻:U.S. House passes clean funding bill for Homeland Security Department

WASHINGTON, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to pass a clean funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through Sept. 30 without any provisions to roll back U.S. President Barack Obama's contested 2014 executive actions on immigration, ending a month- long partisan gridlock that threatened a partial shutdown in the security agency.

The 257-167 vote sends the bill to Obama to be signed into law. Obama has said he will sign the funding bill for DHS, which spearheads domestic counterterrorism efforts.

A majority of House Republicans opposed the bill, while 75 GOP lawmakers joined the 182 Democrats to pass the bill. Republican House Speaker John Boehner also backed the bill.

Senate Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid applauded the House for ending the "unnecessary showdown". "Common ground should be something we seek, not run away from -- especially when the security of our nation is at stake," he said.

It also ends a weeks-long drama on Capitol Hill, where Republicans had sought to tie the funding with efforts to block Obama's executive actions on immigration issues.

Senate Democrats had repeatedly blocked a House-passed bill that included the immigration provisions, while Obama and Democrats backed a "clean" funding bill passed by the Senate.

Boehner told his members Tuesday morning that he had run out of options, and the Senate could not pass a bill with immigration restrictions.

Last Friday, the House stayed in session late into the night after conservatives helped block a bill that would have kept DHS open for three weeks. Boehner pushed through a one-week funding bill for the DHS, buying time for Congress to figure out Tuesday's deal.