President Biden passes stopgap spending bill to avert ‘costly’ government shutdown before presidential poll

President Joe Biden has signed a 3-month stopgap funding bill, preventing a government shutdown and lengthening government funding until December 20. This temporary measure, sometimes called a unbroken resolution (CR), lets in beyond regular time to debate long-term spending decisions, that can likely resume after the November elections. To boot as extending funding, the bill includes an additional USD 231 million for the Secret Service. This allocation aims to bolster protective operations, including those necessary for the 2024 presidential campaign and national security events, in line with recent assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump. The bill passed with strong bipartisan beef up in both the House and Senate earlier than being signed by Biden.

“The passage of this bill gives Congress more time to pass full-year funding bills by the end of this year,” Biden said on Wednesday.

“My administration will work with Congress to confirm these bills deliver for The americaa.’s national defence, veterans, seniors, young people and working families, and address urgent needs for the American people, including communities convalescing from disasters.”

As reported by Reuters, the Democratic-majority Senate approved the bill with a vote of Seventy eight-18, just hours after the House of Representatives passed it. This measure will do something in regards to the government’s current discretionary funding level of roughly $1.2 trillion through December 20, thereby avoiding the furlough of thousands of federal workers and the shutdown of many government services just weeks earlier than the November 5 election.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson first and foremost attempted to pass a more conservative proposal that combined a six-month stopgap funding measure with the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. This controversial proposal would require proof of citizenship for voter registration, a policy many Democrats opposed.

On the opposite hand, this effort failed last week, as 14 Republicans joined nearly all Democrats in voting against Johnson’s bill. This setback forced Johnson to pivot to a more limited, three-month spending bill that could gain broader beef up from both parties. The revised bill became narrowly keen on government funding and excluded contentious policy measures like the SAVE Act. It passed the House with a sturdy majority, 341 to eighty two, with all opposition coming from Republicans.

Once the House passed the continuing resolution on Wednesday noon, the Senate moved straight away to take up the bill. The Upper Chamber passed the bill just two hours after the House did in a bipartisan vote of Seventy eight to 18.