Congress OKs bill averting government shutdown

WASHINGTON — A week­end gov­ern­ment shut­down that nei­ther party wanted was averted when Con­gress approved a com­pro­mise spend­ing bill Thurs­day, as lead­ers over­came major defec­tions by Repub­li­cans angry over what they con­sid­ered exces­sive spend­ing. To the dis­may of lib­er­als, the mea­sure also blocks Obama admin­is­tra­tion plans to impose stricter nutri­tion stan­dards on school lunches.