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CNN: Senate passes short-term spending bill
The Senate easily passed a spending bill Thursday to keep the government funded for three more weeks as lawmakers and the White House work to bridge their deep divide on a larger spending package that will run through September 30, the end of the fiscal year. The vote was 87 to 13. Four Democrats and nine Republicans voted against it. The House already passed the stopgap bill, which – at the insistence of Republicans – cuts $6 billion from current funding levels. Now it will go to President Barack Obama to be signed into law.

CNN: Report: Obama donors asked to raise $350,000 this year
President Barack Obama's campaign manager on Thursday urged deep-pocketed and well-connected donors to each pledge to raise $350,000 this year, a sign that the president could raise upward of $1 billion for his re-election. The contributors were asked to raise the money during a Democratic Party meeting in the nation's capital, according to The New York Times, which first reported the story. The donors could be asked to raise more money in 2012.

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