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WASHINGTON – President joe biden signed a government financing bill on Saturday that avoided a government shutdown and marked the end of a chaotic and high-stakes week in Congress.
the white house said in a statement that the bill had been signed. Biden has not made any public statements following the last-minute negotiations in Congress that led the US Senate to approve the bipartisan agreement. federal expense invoice.
“While it does not include everything we sought…President Biden supports moving this legislation forward,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Friday.
US President Joe Biden delivers a speech on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, United States, on December 10, 2024.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
the invoice authorizes continued funding of the federal government at current levels for three months and provides additional disaster relief and agricultural aid.
The House overwhelmingly approved the measure Friday night by a vote of 366 to 34, with support from all Democrats and more than three-quarters of Republicans.
In the Senate, the bill passed by 85 votes to 11 shortly after midnight. Of the no votes, Republicans cast 10 and one came from the senator. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who is part of the Democrats.
The resounding support for the interim funding bill reflected a bipartisan desire to avoid a costly shutdown that could have jeopardized the paychecks of hundreds of thousands of federal employees just days before Christmas.
The dramatic votes in both the House and Senate capped several days of chaos at the Capitol, during which House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, tried and failed to meet the president-elect’s demands. Donald Trump.
Trump and his billionaire campaign donor Elon Muskhe tesla CEO, doomed an initial funding plan negotiated Wednesday by harshly criticizing its provisions, leaving Republicans to scramble for most of Thursday to find a replacement.
Specifically, Trump insisted that any deal to keep the government open must include a two-year suspension of the U.S. debt limit. The limit is the maximum that the federal government can borrow to pay its expenses.
The debt ceiling is a bitter and recurring debate in Washington every few years and one in which the minority political party usually has a lot of influence. Trump appears eager to avoid this fight during the start of his second term.
But authorizing the United States to borrow more money is a bridge too far for many hardline conservative Republicans.
This was evident when on Thursday billwhich contained core government funding and an increase in the debt limit, was soundly defeated. Joining nearly all the Democrats were 38 rank-and-file Republicans who voted against it. that, after his The party leader had publicly backed the deal.
Like Thursday’s failed vote, Friday’s passage — without Trump’s debt limit increase — served as a reminder to the incoming president of how difficult it is to control the notoriously fractious House Republican caucus.
