The Senate passed legislation Thursday to keep the government funded beyond the Friday midnight deadline for when the current budget was set to expire, narrowly averting a shutdown for the fourth time in recent months as a divided Congress has failed to reach an agreement on a new spending plan.
U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) is followed by reporters as he leaves a news ... [+]
The Senate passed the legislation in a 77-13 vote Thursday night, hours after the House passed the legislation in a 320-99 vote, with two Democrats and 97 Republicans voting against the bill to continue funding several federal agencies through March 8 and the rest through March 22.
Thursday’s votes marked the fourth time since the 2023 fiscal year expired at the end of September that Congress has voted to narrowly avert a government shutdown.
The short-term “stopgap” measures effectively allow the government to continue operating under the 2023 fiscal year budget, giving lawmakers additional time to work out the details of a full-year spending plan for fiscal year 2024.
President Joe Biden is set to sign the bill, officially averting the shutdown.
Congressional leaders announced Thursday they’d reached a deal on six of the 12 appropriations bills that make up the fiscal year 2024 budget, including funding for the Agriculture Department and Food and Drug Administration, the Commerce and Justice Departments, the Transportation Department and Housing and Urban Development, among others, to be voted on before March 8. The deal extends the deadline to fund the rest of the government through March 22.