Members of the US House of Representatives leave the Capitol after the vote. Photo: AFP

Washington: The US Congress has narrowly avoided another government shutdown as a revolt among House Democrats nearly upended passage of a $US 1.1 trillion spending bill backed by US President Barack Obama. 

With less than three hours to go until government funding expired, the House voted 219 to 206 to approve the bill.. Senators planned late on Thursday to approve a two-day extension of current funding in order to give them more time to work through arcane procedural rules, pass the bill and cap the least productive congressional session in modern history.

The White House said that Mr Obama supports the bill and would sign it, but criticised lawmakers for relaxing some Wall Street regulations and making an expansive change to campaign finance laws.

US House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi after a House Democratic Caucus meeting. Photo: Reuters

A Democratic revolt against the spending bill was evident by midday on Thursday, when every Democrat present in the chamber voted against a procedural motion to begin formal debate. In a dramatic standoff, Republican leaders scrambled to find just enough votes to allow debate to begin.

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The White House followed by quickly announcing Mr Obama's support for the legislation.

But House Minority Leader, Democrat Nancy Pelosi then dealt a stunning public rebuke to Mr Obama, using a floor speech to announce her opposition. She said that Democrats were "being blackmailed" by Republicans to pass the measure with just hours before a shutdown.

"I'm enormously disappointed that the White House feels that the only way they can get a bill is to go along with this. That would be the only reason I think they would say they would sign such a bill," she said.

Ms Pelosi's outrage was shared by a majority of her caucus also infuriated by several policy changes tucked inside the omnibus agreement released late on Tuesday.

Rank-and-file Democrats reviewing the legislation had lashed out on Wednesday at language in the bill undoing a signature piece of the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory overhaul and allowing banks to more easily trade the investments known as derivatives. The financial overhaul enacted in 2010 ranks among the biggest domestic achievements of the Obama presidency and the formerly Democratic-controlled Congress.

Another controversial provision in the spending bill would permit a wealthy couple to give three times the current donation limits to the national political parties.

At a closed-door leadership meeting on Thursday morning, Ms Pelosi and her team said they would try again to extract concessions from House Speaker, Republican John Boehner.

Ms Pelosi and Mr Boehner spoke twice during the day, but Ms Pelosi's attempts to make last-minute changes were rebuffed, according to aides to both leaders.

In a scramble to shore up support, Mr Obama and Vice President Biden began phoning wavering Democrats.

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough was dispatched to the basement of the US Capitol to plea for support in person.

Entering the meeting, Ms Pelosi rebuffed suggestions that Democrats would be responsible for another spending impasse. "We're not going to shut down the government," she said.

Steve Israel, a close Pelosi ally, said that Mr McDonough had tried to assuage Democratic concerns by arguing that the economy needs the "certainty" and "consistency" of a one-year bill. But he said many rank-and-file members vocally expressed their concerns with the bill.

"We've got to draw a line in the sand," he said, adding he was open to passing a stopgap bill instead. "I think anything would be preferable" to the bill in its current form, he said.

Republican support for the bill appeared to grow throughout the day despite the objections of dozens of conservatives that the legislation would not punish Mr Obama hard enough for using his executive authority to change immigration policy.

The wave of Democratic opposition in the House appeared backed in part by Senator Elizabeth Warren, a popular figure on the left who voiced concern on Wednesday that the bill would sharply increase the influence of wealthy campaign donors. She said the bill reflected "the worst of government for the rich and powerful."

Washington Post