The US Senate has passed a stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown.
As many as 85 senators backed the bill, while 11 voted against it.
The Senate rushed through final passage early on Saturday, December 21, 2024, of a bipartisan plan that would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster aid, dropping President-elect Donald Trump’s demands for a debt limit increase into the new year.
Prior to the Senate vote, the House of Representatives passed the legislation overwhelmingly, 366-34. “This is a good outcome for the country,” House Speaker, Mike Johnson said after the House vote, adding he had spoken with Donald Trump and the President-elect “was certainly happy about this outcome, as well.”
The Senate worked into the night to pass the bill, just after the deadline. “There will be no government shutdown,” Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer said.
At midnight, the White House said it had ceased shutdown preparations.
The bill extends government funding through March 14 and adds $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion in agricultural assistance to farmers.
Gone is Trump’s demand to lift the debt ceiling, which GOP leaders told lawmakers would be debated as part of their tax and border packages in the new year.
Republicans made a so-called handshake agreement to raise the debt limit at that time while also cutting $2.5 trillion in spending over 10 years.
House Speaker Mike Johnson had insisted Congress would “meet our obligations” and not allow federal operations to shutter ahead of the Christmas holiday season.
However, the day’s outcome was uncertain after Trump doubled down on his insistence that a debt ceiling increase be included in any deal — if not, he said in an early morning post, let the closures “start now.”
Trump’s last-minute demand was almost an impossible ask, and Johnson had almost no choice but to work around his pressure for a debt ceiling increase.
The Speaker was certain that there wouldn’t be enough support within the Republican majority to pass any funding package, since many Republican deficit hawks prefer to slash the federal government and certainly wouldn’t allow more debt.
The House Democrats put up more votes than Republicans for the bill’s passage.
Almost three dozen conservative House Republicans voted against it. “The House Democrats have successfully stopped extreme MAGA Republicans from shutting down the government, crashing the economy and hurting working-class Americans all across the nation,” House Democratic Leader, Hakeem Jeffries said, referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
In the Senate, almost all the opposition came from the Republicans — except independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who said that Musk’s interference was “not democracy, that’s oligarchy.”
Biden Expected To Sign Measure Into Law
The document will now be submitted to US President Joe Biden for signing.
According to the White House, Biden plans to sign the bill today, Saturday, December 21, 2024.
The final product was the third attempt from Johnson, the beleaguered House speaker, to achieve one of the basic requirements of the federal government — keeping it open.
And it raised stark questions about whether Johnson will be able to keep his job, in the face of angry Republican colleagues, and work alongside Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk, who called the legislative plays from afar.
It’s essentially the same deal that flopped the night before in a spectacular setback minus Trump’s debt ceiling demand.
However, it’s far smaller than the original bipartisan accord Johnson struck with Democratic and Republican leaders — a 1,500-page bill that Trump and Musk rejected, forcing him to start over.
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