Congress avoids government shutdown with makeshift funding bill

Congress passed temporary spending measures Thursday night to fund the federal government through Dec. 23. The federal government raced to complete the long-term budget, narrowly avoiding a partial shutdown that was due to last at midnight Friday.

The Senate approved temporary funding bill 71-19 and sent it to President Biden’s desk for signature.

The move marks an agreement between Democrats and Senate Republicans to pass a full budget that runs until next September, despite opposition from House Republicans that the Republicans should wait until next month to regain control of the House. It was done while we were working to finalize the decision.

But approving the entire budget is not a completed transaction.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has warned Democrats that they must pass the budget by the end of December 22nd.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy hopes Senate Republicans will postpone the issue until the next Congress.

The Senate filibuster threshold is 60 votes, so Democrats would need the consent of at least 10 Republican senators to pass a bill, but not House Republicans.

Disagreement over how to fund the government has caused a split between McCarthy and McConnell.

McCarthy’s allies, and even some Senate Republicans, say that by making a deal with the Democrats, McConnell and his leadership team are running out of control spending. suggested that the deal was reached because their chief budgetary, Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, is retiring at the end of his term.

Critics of McCarthy’s approach accuse him of playing politics to appease his support base as he struggles to rally enough Republican votes to become the next Speaker of the House. is doing.

“He’s running for chair and I understand that,” Shelby said. “But we all know that the best way to fund the government is when we’re here. Whether he retires or he has five years to go, the question remains the same. It is irrational to shut down the government.”

Mr McConnell stressed that with Democrats in control of Congress, they would only have enough influence to force Congress to shut down.

Additionally, Senate Republicans have said that if McCarthy is unable to silence the House Speaker’s gavel, leaving McCarthy to pass a large appropriations bill is likely to end in a shutdown.