Washington:
US President Joe Biden has signed a three-month government funding bill, averting an imminent shutdown and delaying a more detailed conversation on government spending until the November election, media reported.
The temporary spending bill, known as a continuing resolution or CR, would extend government funding until December 20, The Guardian reported.
It would also provide an additional $231 million to the Secret Service “for operations necessary to conduct protective operations, including the 2024 presidential campaign and national security events,” following the two recent assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump.
Biden’s signing of the bill came one day after the House and Senate passed the legislation with overwhelming bipartisan majorities in both chambers.
“Passage of this bill gives Congress more time to pass full-year funding bills until the end of this year,” Biden said Wednesday.
“My administration will work with Congress to ensure that these bills benefit America’s national defense, veterans, seniors, children and working families and meet the urgent needs of the American people, including communities recovering from disasters.” “
The GOP Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, initially tried to push a more right-wing proposal that combined a six-month temporary funding measure with the Save American Voters Act, a controversial proposal that requires people to show proof of citizenship when they register to vote.
That effort failed last week when 14 Republicans and all but two Democrats opposed Johnson’s bill. The failure forced Johnson to pass a three-month spending bill that was small enough to win Democratic support. The House of Representatives passed that bill on Wednesday by a vote of 341-82, with all opposition to the legislation coming from Republicans.
“Our legislative work before November is now officially over, and today the House did what was necessary,” Johnson told reporters on Wednesday.
“We took the initiative and passed a clean, narrow, quarterly CR to prevent the Senate from hamstringing us with another bloated bill while we continue on resolutions.”
Johnson nodded to widespread opposition to the bill within his conference, as 82 Republicans voted against it amid complaints about wasteful government spending, The Guardian reported.
“While continuing resolution is never ideal – none of us like them; this is no way to run a railroad — it allows Congress to continue to serve the American people through the election,” Johnson said.
After the House passed the continuing resolution at noon Wednesday, the Senate immediately moved to consider the bill. The upper chamber passed the bill just two hours after the House in a bipartisan vote of 78 to 18.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer thanked Johnson for his work to avoid a shutdown but complained that it took Congress until the last minute to pass a funding package when it had seemed clear for weeks that it would a narrow brake is required.
“Tonight, the American people can sleep easier knowing that we have avoided an unnecessary government shutdown at the end of the month,” Schumer said before the vote.
“It’s a relief for the country that once again bipartisanship has prevailed to stop another shutdown threat.” It took a lot longer than it should have, but because House Republicans finally chose to work with us in the end, Congress gets a job done tonight.”
Schumer previously blamed Donald Trump for the delay, as the former president implored Republican lawmakers to reject any funding bill unless it was related to “election security” measures. The newly signed bill did not meet that requirement, but Johnson insisted that Trump supports Republican efforts to keep the government funded.
“Former President Trump understands the current dilemma and the situation we’re in,” Johnson told reporters on Tuesday.
“So we will continue to work closely together. I am not opposed to President Trump. We do our job and I think he understands that.”
Both houses of Congress are now adjourned for six weeks, meaning members won’t be back on Capitol Hill before Election Day. Johnson’s decision to rely on Democratic support to pass the funding package has raised questions about his future as speaker, but he expressed confidence on Wednesday about his leadership and his party’s prospects for expanding its slim majority in the House of Representatives.
“I’d be a fool to predict a certain number of seats, but let me just say I’m very optimistic,” Johnson told reporters.
“I believe we will keep the Chamber.” And I intend to be the Speaker of the new Congress.”
(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and was published by a syndicated channel.)
