UPDATE 2-US House passes bill to avoid government shutdown

* Bill passes on largely party-line vote, 217-190

* Measure would continue funding largely at current levels (Adds detail, byline)

By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON, Sept 25 (Reuters) - The House of Representatives passed a temporary spending bill on Friday that would fund the U.S. government through October and avoid a messy shutdown when the fiscal year ends next week.

The measure now heads to the U.S. Senate, which must pass it before the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1. Lawmakers need the extra time to complete work on the 12 spending bills that fund government operations for the coming fiscal year.

Few Republicans voted for the bill, which passed on a largely party-line vote of 217 to 190.

Congress last passed all of its spending bills on time in 1994, and wrangling over the bills is common as the new fiscal year approaches. Political battles over spending led to temporary government shutdowns in 1995 and 1996.

The bill passed by the House funds government operations largely at current levels, with increases for veterans' health care and the Census Bureau, which is ramping up for its once-a-decade population count next year.

"Our principal obligation on this bill is simply to keep the government open," said Democratic Representative David Obey, chairman of the committee that oversees spending. "We've got enough problems in the economy right now without adding to people's uncertainty."

The bill prevents highway programs from expiring and allows the Postal Service to cover a budget shortfall by reducing the amount it must pay to its retirement account by $4 billion.

It would prohibit federal funds from going to the liberal grass-roots group ACORN, which is facing criticism after a conservative activist secretly filmed employees giving tax and housing advice to a couple who said they wanted to set up a brothel.

REPUBLICAN CRITICS

Republicans said the measure should not have been combined with a separate bill that boosts congressional operations by 3.4 percent for the coming fiscal year and includes increases for staff pay and perks.

The move ensures that both bills will face minimal procedural hurdles and pass through Congress quickly, but several Republicans said lawmakers should finish work on national security spending bills before increasing their own budgets.

"No one, including Congress and the American people, is well served by a government shutdown. However, putting the interests of members of Congress before the interests of the American people is a poor way to do business," said Representative Jerry Lewis, the top Republican on the spending committee.

The federal government was temporarily shut down in 1995 and 1996 due to a spending dispute between Democratic President Bill Clinton and Congress, which was controlled by Republicans at the time.

Obey noted that Republicans used the same tactic when they controlled Congress in 2006. He said the congressional spending bill was the only one that has been completed and thus the only one available as a vehicle for the stopgap spending bill.

Other spending bills will come up for a vote soon because House and Senate negotiators have resolved a dispute over the individual spending projects known as earmarks, Obey said.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; editing by David Alexander)