US avoids government shutdown after days of political turmoil

The U.S. government voted to pass a budget to avoid its shutdown, but the bitterly disputed deal does not include a call from President-elect Donald Trump to raise the federal debt limit.

US President Joe Biden signed the spending bill into law on Saturday morning. The Senate approved the deal shortly after the midnight deadline by 85-11. The House of Representatives approved it hours before by 336-34.

Without a funding agreement, millions of federal employees would have ended up on temporary unpaid leave or stopped working without pay.

The US government’s debt stands at around $36 trillion (£29 trillion), and more money is now spent on interest payments alone than on US national security.

A shutdown would have closed or severely reduced operations of public services like parks, food assistance programs, and federally funded preschools, while limiting assistance to aid-dependent farmers and people recovering from disasters. natural.

Earlier this week, lawmakers successfully negotiated a deal to fund government agencies, but it collapsed after Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk called on Republicans to reject it.

The last government shutdown was during Trump’s first presidential term in 2019 and lasted 35 days, the longest in US history.

The just-passed American Relief Act of 2025 is 118 pages long, drawn from a 1,547-page bill that Trump and Musk rejected this week. It will fund the US government at current levels until March 14.

Trump’s call to raise the debt ceiling, which was a sticking point for Democrats and some Republican budget hawks, was not included in the final bill, but Republican leaders said that measure would be discussed in the new year.

The dramatic budget fight is a preview of the legislative fights that may await when Trump takes office next month.

“Trying to put a debt ceiling suspension into the legislation at the last minute was not sustainable,” Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said before the vote.

He later praised the bill’s passage, saying, “House Democrats have succeeded in stopping the billionaire boys club.”

The deal eliminates measures sought by Democrats in the first version of the bill, including the first pay raise for lawmakers since 2009, health care reforms and provisions aimed at preventing hotels and live event venues from receiving misleading advertising.

Includes $100bn (£83bn) in disaster relief funding to help with recovery from hurricanes and other natural disasters, and allocates $10bn (£8bn) in aid to farmers .

It also includes full federal funding to rebuild Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed when was hit by a cargo ship in March.

Musk, who was tasked by Trump with cutting government spending in his administration, had lobbied hard against an earlier version of the bill.

During the debate, Republicans said they looked forward to a “new era” with Trump taking office on Jan. 20 and Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress. Currently, the Senate remains under Democratic control.

The budget dispute left Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson bruised as he faced criticism from members of his own party, raising questions about whether he can win the chamber’s Jan. 3 vote to keep his job.

“We are grateful that everyone has come together to do the right thing and, having now made this the last order of business for the year, we are prepared for a great and important new beginning in January,” Johnson told reporters after the Friday vote. .

He also said he had spoken frequently with both Trump and Musk during the negotiations.

Johnson’s comments came shortly after Musk praised the Louisiana congressman’s work on the budget in a post on X, the social media platform he owns.

“The Speaker did a good job here, given the circumstances,” he posted. “It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces.”