* U.S. Congress passes bill to temporarily avert govt shutdown
* Nonfarm payrolls report seen showing 200,000 new jobs in Nov
* Bitcoin takes a breather after setting record high above $16,000
* British PM May readies dawn call with EU, is Brexit deal near?
By Lisa Twaronite
TOKYO, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The dollar edged up on Friday, on track for a weekly gain against a basket of currencies, as the passage of a bill to temporarily extend U.S. government funding raised investors' optimism that a tax reform bill would also pass.
The euro inched down 0.1 percent to $1.1766, around its lowest levels since Nov. 22, as traders waited to see if British Prime Minister Theresa May has finally clinched an elusive deal with Irish and EU officials on how they would run their post-Brexit land border on the island of Ireland.
An agreement would remove the last obstacle for opening free-trade talks with the European Union. May is likely to meet European Union chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker before dawn (0600 GMT) in Brussels.
The euro was on track to shed 1.1 percent for the week, but is still up nearly 12 percent so far in 2017.
Forex traders were also awaiting the closely watched U.S. non-farm payrolls report later in the day, which is expected to show 200,000 new jobs were created in November, according to a Reuters poll.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was up slightly on the day at 93.830 , up 1 percent for the week. But it was still down 8.2 percent for a year plagued by U.S. policy uncertainty.
Removing one major stumbling block for the dollar on Friday, the U.S. Congress on Thursday passed legislation to temporarily fund the government through Dec. 22, beating a Friday midnight deadline. The bill will be sent to President Donald Trump to sign.
U.S. Senate Republicans agreed to talks with the House of Representatives on sweeping tax legislation on Wednesday, amid early signs that lawmakers could bridge their differences and agree on a final bill ahead of a self-imposed Dec. 22 deadline.
"The market action this week has mostly been drawing cues from Washington," said Bill Northey, chief investment officer at the private client group of U.S. Bank in Helena, Montana.
"But from an economic perspective, as we start to look at the real economy, we will get one of the first 'clean reads' on employment," he said, referring to a jobs report in which the impact of the year's hurricanes is no longer a factor.
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week to 236,000, data showed on Thursday.