File photo shows the interior of the US House of Representatives

With only hours left to avoid the fourth partial shutdown of the United States� government in a decade, the House of Representatives has passed a temporary measure to keep the government funded for another 45 days.

The bipartisan measure was passed 335-91 on Saturday after Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy broke ranks with those party members, who had insisted that any bill had to pass the chamber with only Republican votes.

A total of 209 Democrats supported the bill, which was far more than the 126 Republicans who did so, prompting Democrats to describe the result as a win.

Extreme MAGA Republicans have lost..., top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries said. He was citing the acronym for former president Donald Trump�s Make America Great Again motto that has many Republican buyers across the two chambers of the US Congress.

The so-called stopgap bill is slated to keep the government open until the middle of November.

Even with the bill passed, there is little time to avoid the federal government�s shutdown, which will begin at 0401 GMT on Sunday, unless the Democratic-majority Senate also passes the bill and President Joe Biden signs it into law
in time.

The standoff over the budget had raised worries on Wall Street, with the Moody�s ratings agency warning it could damage US creditworthiness.

A shutdown could also see millions of federal employees and military personnel sent home or required to work without pay.

Biden had earlier warned that a shutdown could take a heavy toll on American troops, saying We can�t be playing politics while our troops stand in the breach. It�s an absolute dereliction of duty.

The Senate�s lawmakers have said that they would not object to a speedy vote that could avoid the prospect.

The vote is expected to take place after Senate Democrats meet.

The temporary measure features a freeze on the government�s multi-billion-dollar flow of military assistance towards Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia. This is while arming and funding what many observers consider as the US� proxy war against Russia has been a key policy plank for Biden�s administration.