President Joe Biden signed a stopgap spending bill on Saturday to keep the federal government funded and avert a devastating government shutdown.
House lawmakers reached an agreement on a budget extension just before Friday’s government shutdown deadline, and the Senate approved the measure early Saturday. The bill is expected to maintain federal funding until March, when Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress. Shutdowns typically occur when one party controls the White House and the other party controls the Senate or House of Representatives and uses bargaining to negotiate across the aisle.
By law, the federal budget is due before the start of the fiscal year on October 1st, but Congress has moved the deadline to December 20th to give both parties time to agree on how to spend the money. passed interim measures to extend the period until the end of the day. This has become common in recent decades. Since 1977, only four budget proposals have been delivered on time, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Pew Research Center.
This time, lawmakers were scrambling to meet deadlines even though they appeared to have agreed on a budget last week. On Tuesday, Congressional leaders announced they had reached a compromise that would extend government funding through March. But President-elect Donald Trump and his new budget adviser, Elon Musk, criticized the deal on social media Thursday, prompting Republicans to back out.
The new bill was passed without the debt ceiling extension clause that President Trump had specifically asked for in his call to Congress.
Updated—December 21, 2024: This article has been updated to reflect events that have occurred since it was first published.
