The United States Senate approved a bipartisan stopgap federal spending bill early Saturday morning, narrowly avoiding a government shutdown and concluding a week of intense negotiations on Capitol Hill. The measure will fund the federal government at current levels for the next three months while providing additional disaster relief and farm aid.
The bill had previously passed in the House of Representatives on Friday evening with overwhelming bipartisan support. Every Democrat and more than three-quarters of House Republicans voted in favor, surpassing the two-thirds threshold required to bypass the lengthy committee process. In the Senate, the bill received over 60 votes, meeting the chamber’s requirement for final passage.
The legislation was widely backed by both parties, reflecting a shared urgency to prevent a costly government shutdown that could have disrupted federal services and delayed paychecks for hundreds of thousands of federal employees just days before Christmas. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill into law later on Saturday, according to the White House.
“While it does not include everything we sought … President Biden supports moving this legislation forward,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
The dramatic votes came after a chaotic week in Congress, marked by internal divisions within the Republican Party and strong opposition from President-elect Donald Trump and his high-profile supporter, Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Trump had demanded that any funding bill include a two-year suspension of the U.S. debt ceiling, a contentious issue that allows the government to borrow money to meet its spending obligations.
The debt ceiling debate, a recurring point of contention in Washington, often gives the minority party significant leverage. Trump appeared eager to sidestep this issue during the early months of his second presidential term. However, the proposal to raise the debt limit proved a step too far for many conservative Republicans.
On Thursday, a bill incorporating government funding and a debt ceiling hike was resoundingly defeated. Nearly every Democrat voted against it, joined by 38 rank-and-file Republicans, despite public endorsements from Republican leadership.
The successful passage of the revised bill on Friday, which excluded the debt ceiling provision, highlighted the challenges faced by House Speaker Mike Johnson and underscored the difficulties of navigating a divided Republican caucus.
The stopgap funding measure provides temporary relief, but it leaves unresolved issues like the debt ceiling, ensuring that further contentious debates await Congress in the months ahead.
