Biden signs the spending bill, thereby preventing a government shutdown

President Biden signed a short-term government funding bill into law on Thursday, narrowly averting a government shutdown but leaving a bigger spending dispute before Congress early next year.

The Senate gave final approval to the package late Wednesday, about 48 hours before the closing deadline at midnight on Friday. In a two-step plan, the bill funds congressional priorities through Jan. 19, including military construction, veterans affairs, transportation, housing and the Energy Department. Other agencies would be funded until February 2.

The vote in the Senate was 87-11, with ten Republicans and one Democrat, Michael Bennet of Colorado, opposing the bill. It was approved by the House of Representatives on Tuesday with near-unanimous support from Democrats and nearly half of House Republicans who opposed it.

The spending plan does not include additional aid for Israel or Ukraine.

Mr Biden was in San Francisco on Thursday, attending a summit of Asia-Pacific economies.

The bill funds federal agencies at current levels and contains no policy provisions. Democrats had pushed for such a bill as far-right Republicans had sought deep cuts to Biden’s priorities on climate change and other issues, such as the ban on money flowing into the president’s executive order on diversity, equity and inclusion in the federal workforce.

“There will be no government shutdown,” Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and majority leader, said at a news conference after the bill passed. “Thanks to bipartisan cooperation, we are keeping the government open without poison pills or damaging cuts to vital programs – a great outcome for the American people.”

Speaker Mike Johnson, who designed the package, has said he will no longer support emergency funding plans and has cast the stopgap spending measure as the basis for a “fight” with the Senate in 2024.

Katie Rogers contributed reporting from San Francisco.