WASHINGTON — Members of the U.S. Senate are racing to pass a bipartisan federal spending deal in time to avert a government shutdown that would likely begin if the Senate failed to approve the House-passed legislation.
The bill set to receive a vote tonight authorizes continued funding of the federal government at current levels for three months and provides additional disaster relief and farm aid.
The House overwhelmingly approved the measure on Friday evening with support from every Democrat and more than three quarters of Republicans. The tally exceeded the two-thirds threshold required to bypass the lengthy House committee process.
In the Senate, the bill is expected to pass with more than 60 votes, exceeding that chamber’s threshold to move to final passage.
This high bars reflect the desire in both parties to avoid a costly shutdown that could jeopardize paychecks for hundreds of thousands of federal employees a few days before Christmas.
If the bill passes the Senate in its current form, outgoing President Joe Biden is expected to quickly sign it into law.
“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.
While midnight Friday is the expiration date of the current government funding bill, a shutdown does not begin automatically the moment the clock strikes twelve. To initiate a shutdown, the Office of Management and Budget must issue a shutdown order.
If, as on Friday, Senate votes are underway and a bill to extend funding is on track for passage, OMB typically hits pause on issuing the directive.
Friday’s dramatic votes cap off several days of chaos on Capitol Hill, during which House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., tried and failed to meet the demands of President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump and his billionaire campaign donor Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO, doomed an initial, negotiated funding plan Wednesday by harshly criticizing its provisions, sending Republicans scrambling most of Thursday to find a replacement plan.
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 the federal government can borrow to pay for its spending.
The debt ceiling is a recurring, bitter debate in Washington every few years, and one where the political party in the minority typically has a lot of leverage. Trump appears eager to avoid this fight during the start of his second term in office.
But authorizing the U.S. to borrow more money is a bridge too far for many hardline conservative Republicans.
This was evident when Thursday’s bill, which contained bare bones government funding and a debt limit hike, was resoundingly defeated. Joining nearly every Democrat were 38 rank-and-file Republicans who voted against it, after their party’s leader had publicly endorsed the deal.
Like Thursday’s failed vote, Friday’s passage — without Trump’s debt limit hike — served as a reminder to the incoming president of just how difficult it is to control the notoriously fractious House Republican caucus.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
