US Senate passes funding package after missing deadline to avert partial gov't shutdown
The U.S. Senate approved a massive funding package early Saturday morning, about two hours after missing the deadline to avert a partial shutdown of the federal government.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the legislation on Friday. It addresses funding for the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, State and the legislative branch through this fiscal year.
The White House stated earlier that shutdown preparations have ended and that U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill on Saturday.
"Because obligations of federal funds are incurred and tracked on a daily basis, agencies will not shut down and may continue their normal operations," said the statement.
The divided Congress has narrowly averted multiple shutdowns this session thanks to stopgap bills that kept extending the deadline.
"A failure to fund the government tonight means everyone loses, and everyone loses a lot," U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, told reporters on Friday. "There's no winner to come out of a catastrophe like failing to fund the government."
The U.S. Congress appropriates funds for federal agencies to operate each fiscal year. Without signed appropriations or a continuing resolution, federal agencies must ease normal spending, described as a "shutdown." The duration and reasons for shutdowns vary, but they often stem from disagreements between the two political parties over budgetary matters or policy issues.
Three in four Americans said it is not acceptable for members of Congress to threaten a government shutdown during budget negotiations to achieve their goals, according to a PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll last year.