Senate passes measure to avoid government shutdown

On Thursday afternoon, Senate Democrats and Republicans passed a measure to fund the government through early December, thereby avoiding the shutdown that was set to occur just after midnight. The continuing resolution was passed by a vote of 65-35.

The vote follows several weeks of partisan and intra-party deadlock on a number of high-profile issues, foremost among them, raising the country's debt ceiling. Republicans recently blocked an effort to do so, leaving the U.S. just 18 days to borrow unresolved before the next major fiscal deadline. 

The stopgap bill – the second so far – will fund the government through December 3, at which time Congress will either have to pass yet another continuing resolution or pass several appropriations bill that will fund federal agencies through the end of fiscal 2022.