Updated Sep 30, 2021 - Politics & Policy

Biden signs short-term government funding bill, averting shutdown

Sarah Mucha

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer walks through door holding papers — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

President Biden on Thursday signed a short-term bill to fund the government through Dec. 3, just hours before a potential shutdown.

Why it matters: The bill passed in the Senate with bipartisan support, 65-35, after Democrats stripped language from it that would have suspended the debt ceiling. It passed in the House, 254-175.

Government funding was set to run out at midnight on Oct. 1 if Congress did not act.

The backdrop: Republicans filibustered government funding and debt limit legislation last week, saying Democrats would have to deal with the limit on their own.

House and Senate leadership are now exhausting all options to try and suspend the debt ceiling before the government defaults on its debt on Oct. 18.

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Biden signs short-term government funding bill, averting shutdown

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