WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan on Thursday went along with a stopgap spending bill in the House that avoids a government shutdown but carries a price tag $19 billion higher than the budget he wrote in his role as a congressman.

Ryan, the top budget writer in the House, voted for a temporary spending bill that lets Congress keep government open for another six months. That allows lawmakers and President Barack Obama to put off dicey budget talks until after the Nov. 6 election.

Politics, though, were not far from Ryan's first return to Congress since joining Mitt Romney's presidential bid. He met informally behind closed doors with Republican lawmakers in what aides described as a meet-and-greet event.