The House agreed to the conference report for the legislative branch spending bill Friday, in a largely party-line vote of 217-190.

The final bill totals $4.7 billion, which will fund Congressional office budgets, legislative branch agencies and other Congressional expenses. That’s a 3.4 percent increase over the fiscal 2009 budget.

Democrats have attached the continuing resolution to the bill in an attempt to get Congress’ own budget passed before fiscal 2010 begins Oct. 1. Republicans have criticized the move, complaining that by pairing the legislative branch bill with the must-pass CR, Congressional leaders were forcing them to choose between voting for their office budgets or a government shutdown. Furthermore, they are barred from offering amendments on appropriations bills — and, consequently, on the attached CR.

Most Republicans thus voted against the report, including House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch ranking member Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), who nevertheless called the legislative branch bill a “good bill— that was created with “real bipartisanship.—