In a dramatic turn of events, the House and U.S. Senate passed a crucial stopgap spending measure just mere hours before the looming threat of a government shutdown. The final vote count stood at 88-9 on Saturday night, highlighting the urgency and bipartisan nature of the decision.
BREAKING: The threat of a government shutdown has been averted after the Senate approved temporary funding, sending the bill to President Biden for his signature. https://t.co/19nLUzbNjX
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 1, 2023
Earlier in the day, the House of Representatives had successfully advanced the short-term spending bill, aptly referred to as a continuing resolution (CR), by a vote of 335 to 91. The palpable tension surrounding the possibility of a shutdown gave way to applause among lawmakers following this momentous House vote.
The critical backdrop for this legislative sprint was the imminent end of the fiscal year at midnight on October 1.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer promptly called for a roll call shortly after 8 p.m. on Saturday night. The Senate faced a daunting threshold, requiring 60 affirmative votes to secure the bill’s passage.
Notably, the bill in question authorized funding for 45 days, encompassing $16 billion earmarked for disaster relief but excluding aid to Ukraine.
“Democrats and Republicans have come to an agreement and the government will remain open. We will have avoided a shutdown. … Leader McConnell and I have agreed to continue fighting for more economic and security aid for Ukraine. We support Ukraine’s efforts to defend its sovereignty against Putin’s aggression,” Schumer said ahead of the vote.
Unlike previous CR proposals from the Republican side – a stopgap funding bill that contained conservative policy items like border security and spending cuts – another stopgap measure saw members of Congress from both sides of the aisle rallying behind it.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy expressed during a press conference that the CR’s passage would afford Congress additional time to “Get their work done.”
“The House is going to act so government will not shut down,” McCarthy told reporters Saturday. “We will put a clean funding stopgap on the floor to keep government open for 45 days for the House and Senate to get their work done.”
“We will also, knowing what had transpired through the summer, the disasters in Florida, the horrendous fire in Hawaii, and also disasters in California and Vermont, we will put the supplemental portion that the president asked for in disaster there too,” McCarthy added.
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