The United States Senate passed their third temporary government funding package that will end the threat of a federal government shutdown in 2023. The bill passed the Senate, 87-11, and will be sent to Pres. Joe Biden for his signature.
Government funding would have expired on Monday, Nov. 14 if Congress had not passed the bill.
“This year, there will be no government shutdown,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said at a news conference after the bill’s passage.
This is the third time this year that the U.S. has been on the brink of defaulting on more than $31 trillion in debt. The first time was this spring and the most recent was October, which led to the ousting of former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy.
The new Speaker, Mike Johnson, is a representative from Louisiana serving his fourth term. Johnson serves as the vice chairman of the House Republican Conference, a leader on the judiciary and armed services committees and he’s the deputy whip in the House.
Getting a bipartisan agreement on the bill was one of Johnson’s first battles. He said on CNN, “I’ve been at the job less than three weeks, right? I can’t change, I can’t turn an aircraft carrier overnight.”
The bill contains the same spending levels set by Biden in the spring. The legislation would extend funding for military construction, veterans’ benefits, transportation, housing, urban development, agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration and energy and water programs.
Johnson told reporters he will not support any further temporary funding measures after this bill and will use this last bill as ground to start thinking about long term solutions to the spending arguments in Congress.
The new bill has two deadlines where some funding will be extended until Jan. 2024 and other funding to Feb. 2.
“The speaker has now 10 days to work it out and get Republicans to actually stand up and fight when we get back,” Representative Chip Roy said to Reuters as House lawmakers left Washington for a Thanksgiving holiday break. “We expect that fight when we get back.”
Congress is on Thanksgiving break from Nov. 18 to Nov. 26 and when they return, they will decide if Biden’s $106 billion request for Ukraine and Israel funding will be allowed.
“Keeping the government is a good outcome, of course, but we have a lot more work to do after Thanksgiving,” Schumer said. “I know both sides genuinely care about approving aid to Israel and Ukraine and helping innocent civilians in Gaza. So I hope we can come to an agreement even if neither side gets everything they insist on.”