Government shutdown averted as Senate sends Biden funding bill: Live

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s two-step funding bill easily passed the US senate ahead of 17 November government shutdown deadline – after Democrats joined Republicans to pass vote in the lower chamber

Senate passes short-term funding bill to avert government shutdown

The Senate has overwhelmingly passed a deal to avoid a government shutdown after Democrats helped the deal pass the House of Representatives. Now, the bill will go to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.

Earlier, the House closed down until after Thanksgiving with no votes until 28 November after Speaker Mike Johnson failed to pass another spending bill following his enlisting of the Democrats to get through the funding package.

Texas Rep Chip Roy told CNN that going ahead with the spending bill without cuts and passing it under suspension of the rules with the help of members from across the aisle was “strike one and strike two” for Mr Johnson.

“The Swamp won and the speaker needs to know that,” Mr Roy said. “We’ll go figure out what’s next but I can tell you Republican voters are tired of promises to fight. We want to actually see change. And so you know, we’ll see what happens but, but our approach shouldn’t be assumed when they’re needed and then get rolled on a suspension.”

In total, 209 House Democrats joined in to help fund the government, with the package passing 336 to 95, with 93 Republicans voting against.

Key points

• Senate passes temporary spending bill to avert government shutdown
• More House Democrats than Republicans vote to keep the government open
• ‘It’s nice to see us working together,’ McConnell says
• ‘We can’t afford it shut the government down’
• ‘A lot of those yes votes for weren’t very happy about it’

[16 November 2023 11:00 · Eric Garcia]

‘We can’t afford it shut the government down’

Many Republicans from swing districts and districts that voted for President Joe Biden voted for the legislation.

“Well, we can’t afford it shut the government down,” Rep Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ) told The Independent. “We need to pay our border patrol agents we need to keep our government running. We need more time.”

Rep Mike Lawler said that the passage showed Mr Johnson’s skill.

“Obviously, it’s an important step for him as speaker to be able to show that we can govern and that you know, when it comes time to do big things, like this, that he’s able to do it,” he said.

Many right-wing Republicans criticised the approach, but refrained from criticising Mr Johnson personally. Rep Ken Buck (R-CO), who voted with seven other Republicans to depose Kevin McCarthy as speaker, said Mr Johnson faced a different set of circumstances.

“What happened with Kevin was he knew that we weren’t on schedule with the appropriations bills,” he told The Independent. “Now, Johnson inherits that mess, and Johnson’s got to do something about it.”

[16 November 2023 13:00 · Eric Garcia]

‘A lot of those yes votes for weren’t very happy about it’

Rep Chip Roy (R-TX) told reporters he did not appreciate the way the bill passed.

“We should move at a bill that has overwhelming Republican support,” he said. “This had majority Republicans support but barely and I can promise you a lot of those yes votes for weren’t very happy about it.”

The bill now heads to the Senate, where Mr Schumer said it could have a quick passage.

[16 November 2023 14:00 · Eric Garcia]

Senate passes temporary spending bill to avert government shutdown

The US Senate overwhelmingly passed a stopgap spending bill to avert a government shutdown on Wednesday, teeing off major fights about spending bills in the coming year.

The continuing resolution passed with all but one Democrat supporting the bill while 10 Republicans opposed it. The House of Representatives passed the bill on Tuesday evening.

The legislation – pushed by newly-elected House Speaker Mike Johnson – would keep parts of the government open until 19 January 2024 while other parts would be open until 2 February 2024.

“Hopefully it’s a good sign, but keep in mind, we’ve got two deadlines now that we have to deal with,” Sen Thom Tillis (R-NC) told The Independent after the vote.

Sen Jon Tester (D-MT), the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee who is running for re-election next year, said he was happy Congress avoided a government shutdown.

“That’s a good news,” he told The Independent. “Bad news is we should have got this work done at the end of September.”

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[16 November 2023 15:00 · The Independent]

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