Biden signs bill to avert shutdown ahead of midnight deadline
By Clare Foran and Ali Zaslav, CNN
President Joe Biden on Thursday night signed Congress’ stopgap funding bill to avert a shutdown and extend government funding through December 3, according to the White House.
Government funding had been set to expire at midnight, but Democratic congressional leaders, who control both chambers of Congress, had projected confidence that the government would remain open. The bill passed the House and Senate earlier in the day with a bipartisan vote.
Biden, in a Thursday statement, said that “the passage of this bill reminds us that bipartisan work is possible and it gives us time to pass longer-term funding to keep our government running and delivering for the American people.”
LIVE UPDATES: Congress races to avert a government shutdown
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Wednesday evening that an agreement had been reached, paving the way for a Thursday vote in the chamber on a continuing resolution, which keeps the government funded at current levels for a set time period.
“Some good news — today the Senate will pass a continuing resolution that will eliminate the possibility of a government shutdown tonight,” Schumer said in floor remarks Thursday morning.
In addition to funding the government until December 3, the stopgap bill will “provide funding to help process and resettle Afghan refugees and finally deliver on critical disaster aid for Americans battered by storms and wildfires this summer,” the majority leader said.
Congressional Democrats initially attempted to address the government funding issue alongside the debt limit, a strategy that was thwarted by Republicans in the Senate who have insisted that Democrats must act alone on the debt limit.
On Monday, the Senate took up a House-passed bill that would have extended government funding to avert a shutdown and suspended the debt limit, but Republicans blocked the measure. Senate Republicans have said that they would support a “clean” stopgap funding bill to avert a shutdown if it did not contain a debt limit provision.
In staving off a shutdown by passing a “clean” stopgap bill, lawmakers punt the debt limit issue further down the road with another key deadline fast approaching.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that the federal government will likely run out of cash and extraordinary measures by October 18, leaving Congress with little time to act to stave off what would likely be a catastrophic default.
Democrats do have the option to raise the debt limit on their own using a process known as budget reconciliation, but they have argued that route is too risky and would risk a default, leaving it unclear how the issue will be resolved.
This story and headline have been updated to reflect additional developments Thursday.
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CNN’s Shawna Mizelle contributed to this report.
