Biden signs bill to avert government shutdown
October 1, 2021
US President Joe Biden signed legislation late on Thursday evening to keep the government funded until December 3. He passed the bill just hours before funding was set to collapse, averting a shutdown.
Earlier on Thursday afternoon, the US Senate had approved a stopgap funding bill to keep the government open past midnight, when existing federal funds would expire. The House approved the short-term funding measure by a 254-175 vote shortly afterward.
The vote passed with opposition Republicans supporting the Democrats in a rare show of cross-party unity.
"There's so much more to do," Biden said in a statement after signing the bill. "But 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."
Show of rare bipartisanship
"This is a good outcome, one I'm happy we are getting done," French news agency AFP quoted Chuck Schumer, the top Democratic senator, as saying ahead of the vote.
"With so many things to take care of here in Washington, the last thing the American people need is for the government to grind to a halt," he added.
The rare example of bipartisan cooperation came as Democratic leaders unsuccessfully tried to work out a deal within their ranks over Biden's faltering $3.5 trillion (€3 trillion) social spending package, which has no Republican support, as well as a $1 trillion infrastructure bill to revamp the country's roads and bridges.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was meeting privately with factions of Democratic lawmakers throughout the day, determined to push ahead and strike a deal over the $3.5 trillion package.
However, the progressive wing of the Democratic party have said they will not agree to the infrastructure package until centrist Democrats commit to the broader social spending package.
Democrats fail to agree on Biden's infrastructure package
Despite a long night of negotiations, Democrat lawmakers were unable to reach an immediate deal, forcing leaders to call off promised votes on a related public works bill.
Pelosi had then pushed the House into an evening session, and top White House advisers gathered for talks at the Capitol on Thursday. Biden had also cleared his schedule for calls with lawmakers, but it appeared into Thursday night that no deal on the social spending package would be immediately possible.
"I don't see a deal tonight. I really don't,'' Centrist Democratic Senator Joe Manchin told reporters as he left the Capitol.
Democrat Stephanie Murphy of Florida, meanwhile, called canceling the vote "a breach of trust that would slow the momentum in moving forward and delivering the Biden agenda."
lc, rm/jsi,wmr (AP, Reuters, AFP)