President Biden signed a temporary spending bill to stave off a government shutdown, pushing the federal budget fight with congressional Republicans into the new year. The measure passed with bipartisan support, ensuring the government will remain open until after the holiday season.
The bill keeps government funding at current levels for approximately two months while a long-term package is negotiated. It splits the deadlines for passing full-year appropriations bills into two dates: Jan. 19 for some federal agencies and Feb. 2 for others, creating two potential shutdown risk dates.
The two-step approach was supported by new House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, and was backed by all but one Democrat and 10 Republicans. Johnson has stated that he will not support any further stopgap funding measures and is preparing for a spending “fight” with the Senate next year.
The spending bill does not include the White House’s nearly $106 billion request for wartime aid for Israel and Ukraine, nor does it provide humanitarian funding for Palestinians and other supplemental requests, including money for border security. Lawmakers are expected to focus on these requests after the Thanksgiving holiday. President Biden signed the bill in San Francisco, where he was hosting the summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation economies.
