President Biden signed another short-term spending measure into law on Friday, avoiding a partial government shutdown this weekend and keeping one set of Federal agencies operating through March 8 and another through March 22.
Congress voted on Thursday to approve the stopgap bill – the House by a vote of 320-99, and then the Senate by a vote of 77-13. The president officially signed the legislation into law on Friday.
“This bipartisan agreement prevents a damaging shutdown and allows more time for Congress to work toward full-year funding bills. 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,” President Biden said in a statement.
“In the days ahead, Congress must do its job and pass full-year funding bills that deliver for the American people,” he added.
The approved continuing resolution (CR) extends funding at fiscal year 2023 levels to March 8 for agencies including the Departments of Transportation, Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, and Veterans Affairs.
For the remaining agencies – among them the Departments of Commerce, Justice, Defense, and Homeland Security – the legislation extends funding to March 22.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, spoke on the Senate floor ahead of Thursday’s vote, saying, “We’re close. We are moving in the right direction.”
“We will keep working hard with our colleagues to get this wrapped up and take a shutdown completely off the table by passing the strongest bipartisan spending bills we can – and hopefully soon,” she added.
