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A Senate spending bill for D.C. passed yesterday does not include a controversial ban on the use of local funds for abortions, reports the Post:

While the House bill includes a prohibition against the District using its own taxpayer funds to pay for abortions for low-income women, the Senate bill includes only a long-standing ban on using federal money for that purpose. The city-funded abortion ban has caused friction between Congress and local leaders, with District Mayor Vincent C. Gray and several D.C. Council members being arrested last year at a protest after President Obama agreed to the prohibition as part of a spending deal.

Earlier this month the House passed a spending bill that again prohibits D.C. from using its own money on abortions. The discrepancy between the two spending bills will have to be hashed out in a conference committee.

The Senate spending bill includes funds for a D.C. school voucher program which President Obama had proposed cutting, and also for a massive infrastructure project under the Anacostia River that will help collect stormwater runoff and sewage before it overflows into the river.