Updates to add Biden signing package into law, quote
U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a $1.2T government funding package, averting a partial shutdown and ending months of wrangling between Republicans and Democrats.
Biden’s action came after the Senate earlier passed the legislation by a vote of 74 to 24.
“The bipartisan funding bill I just signed keeps the government open, invests in the American people, and strengthens our economy and national security,” Biden said in a statement.
“We have just reached an agreement to complete the job of funding the government tonight,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer earlier said on X (formerly Twitter) a little after midnight.
“It wasn’t easy, but tonight our persistence has been worth it. It is good for the American people that we have reached this bipartisan deal,” Schumer said.
The final passage came after the midnight deadline, meaning some federal funding technically expired briefly. But the Senate’s action means that the federal government is now funded through the end of the fiscal year.
The $1.2T funding package, which runs more than 1K pages long, would provide funding for the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, State and the legislative branch.
“We have funded the government with significant investments for parents and kids and small businesses and health care workers and military families and so much more. Our efforts have paid off with a strong funding bill that now goes to President Biden’s desk,” Schumer said on X.
“This agreement represents a compromise, which means neither side got everything it wanted. But it rejects extreme cuts from House Republicans and expands access to child care, invests in cancer research, funds mental health and substance use care advances American leadership abroad, and provides resources to secure the border that my Administration successfully fought to include,” President Biden said.
What is a shutdown?
Several federal agencies rely on annual funding approved by Congress. The agencies submit their requests every year which Congress must pass, and the president has to sign budget legislation for the next fiscal year.
If an agreement is not reached by the start of the fiscal year on October 1, that results in a shutdown in which all non-essential discretionary functions stop.
Usually when the deadline approaches, lawmakers from both parties on Capitol Hill agree on temporary funding based on the previous year’s requests.
