last minute deal by politicians in the US avoided a government shutdown that would have seen millions of federal employees go unpaid.
The decision by RepublicanHouse of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy to turn to Democrats to pass a short-term funding bill pushed the risk of shutdown to mid-November.
The Democratic-majority Senate voted 88-9 to pass the measure to avoid the federal government’s fourth partial shutdown in a decade, sending the bill to President Joe Biden, who signed it into law before the 12:01 a.m. ET (0401 GMT) deadline.
US President Joe Biden
/ Getty ImagesMcCarthy abandoned party hardliners’ insistence that any bill pass the House with only Republican votes, a change that could cause one of his far-right members to try to oust him from his leadership role.
The House voted 335-91 to fund the government through Nov. 17, with more Democrats than Republicans supporting it.
That move marked a profound shift from earlier in the week, when a shutdown looked all but inevitable. A shutdown would mean most of the government’s 4 million employees would not get paid – whether they were working or not – and also would shutter a range of federal services, from National Parks to financial regulators.
Federal agencies had already drawn up detailed plans that spell out what services would continue, such as airport screening and border patrols, and what must shut down, including scientific research and nutrition aid to 7 million poor mothers.
Kevin McCarthy
/ AP“The American people can breathe a sigh of relief: there will be no government shutdown tonight,” Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said after the vote.
“Democrats have said from the start that the only solution for avoiding a shutdown is bipartisanship, and we are glad Speaker McCarthy has finally heeded our message.”
McCarthy’s shift won the support of top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, who had backed a similar measure that was moving through the Senate with broad bipartisan support, even though the House version dropped aid for Ukraine.
McCarthy dismissed concerns hardline Republicans could try to oust him as leader.
“I want to be the adult in the room, go ahead and try,” McCarthy told reporters. “And you know what? If I have to risk my job for standing up for the American public, I will do that.”
He said House Republicans would push ahead with plans to pass more funding bills that would cut spending and include other conservative priorities, such as tighter border controls.
The close call, which revealed fractures in the Republican Party in its approach to President Biden’s administration led some experts to raise concerns about Congress’ ability to do its job.
The last-minute reverse comes just four months after the nation almost defaulted on its $31.4 trillion in debt
“Congress is not looking very good,” said Sarah Binder, an expert on governance issues at the Brookings Institution think tank.
“Arguably, the one thing it has to do every year is pass laws that fund the government, and their inability to do any of them this year is just a ringing indictment.”
It comes after hardline conservatives held up Senate action on hundreds of military promotions in a row over abortion, shuttered the House floor for a week in June and subjected McCarthy to 15 humiliating floor votes before allowing his election in January.
It is also less than three years since Jan. 6, 2021, when thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a failed bid to overturn his election loss to Joe Biden. Trump is the clear favorite for the Republican nomination to challenge Biden in 2024.
A push to impeach Biden, led by Trump’s allies, has also fanned partisan anger and split the House majority with an inquiry that even some Republicans say has failed to produce tangible evidence of any wrongdoing by Biden.