Senate passes stopgap funding bill, avoiding government shutdown

The Senate passed a stopgap bill to extend government funding through Feb. 18, avoiding a shutdown.

The bill passed 69-28, but in the House, it passed with a much more narrow margin of 221-212. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) was the only Republican to support the resolution.

Republicans in the Senate threatened to not support the bill in protest of President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccine mandates on public and private sector employees.

A GOP amendment prohibiting federal funding of vaccine mandates was added to the bill, but it ultimately failed to pass by 50-48. 

Republicans who voted for the bill include Sens. Roy Blunt (Mo.), Richard Burr (N.C.), Shelley Moore Capito (W.V.), Bill Cassidy (La.), John Cornyn (Texas), Susan Collins (Maine), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (Miss.), John Kennedy (La.), Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Jerry Moran (Ky.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Rob Portman (Ohio), Mike Rounds (S.D.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Richard Shelby (Ala.), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Rodger Wicker (Miss.) and Todd Young (Ind.).

Currently, the government is only funded through Friday at midnight. The bill will be sent to President Joe Biden to sign.