Kathleen Miller

Congressional leaders reached a tentative deal on measures to fund the U.S. government and make some expired tax provisions permanent, a top House Republican said Tuesday in Washington.

A Republican U.S. senator who said earlier he opposed his partys House bill to repeal the core provisions of PPACA is now strongly leaning toward supporting the Senate version.

The Senate has passed a spending plan hours before the shutdown deadline when government funding expires.

In the 52-46 vote Friday, Senate Republicans, who control the chamber for the first time in eight years, persuaded enough of their members to back a compromise fiscal blueprint to avoid the embarrassment of a failed vote.

A new rule that would allow quicker elections in union organizing efforts would make it harder for small businesses to oppose them, a business trade groups lawyer said during a Senate hearing.