President Biden signed a short-term funding bill on Friday, March 1st, averting a partial government shutdown over the weekend and providing lawmakers more time to fund federal agencies through September.
Biden, in a Thursday statement, said, “This bipartisan agreement prevents a damaging shutdown and allows more time for Congress to work toward full-year funding bills.”
He added, “That’s good news for the American people. But I want to be clear: this is a short-term fix—not a long-term solution.”
The legislation, known as a continuing resolution (CR), garnered substantial bipartisan support, passing the Senate with a 77-13 vote after a 320-99 approval in the House on Thursday.
“It’s good we’re not shutting down. And now let us finish the job of funding the government so we don’t have to do this again,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said before the legislative vote to halt the shutdown.
He added, “As I’ve said repeatedly to the speaker, the only way to get things done in a divided government is bipartisanship. I’m glad the speaker heard our plea and worked with us to avoid a shutdown next week.”
President Biden, alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, had previously met with congressional leaders, stressing the detrimental impact a government shutdown would have on the nation’s economy.
The CR is part of a larger bipartisan spending agreement unveiled by congressional leaders, covering six of the twelve essential spending bills for federal agencies.
The agreement also marks a strategic shift in how government funding approaches, moving away from a single, comprehensive spending package to individual bills, as House Speaker Mike Johnson articulated.
Johnson’s statement, “We’re trying to turn the aircraft carrier back to real budgeting and spending reform.”
This new framework extends the funding deadline for half of the must-pass bills to March 8, with the rest receiving an extension preventing a government shutdown until March 22.
This timeline is designed to facilitate the passage of all spending bills for the fiscal year ending September 30th, as pointed out by White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who emphasized the aim to “prevent a needless shutdown while providing more time to work on bipartisan appropriations bills.”
However, the approach has faced criticism from some quarters, with conservatives arguing it perpetuates past fiscal mismanagement without achieving significant spending reductions.
Republican Representative Matt Gaetz criticized the current fiscal direction, saying, “Last I checked, the Republicans actually have a majority in the House of Representatives, but you wouldn’t know it if you looked at our checkbook because we are all too willing to continue the policy choices of Joe Biden and the spending levels of Nancy Pelosi.”
Despite these challenges, the bipartisan effort to fund the government and the push for separate consideration of foreign aid, including support for Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel, remain focal points of legislative activity.
