Senate approves short-term funding bill to avert shutdown

The Senate on Thursday approved a stopgap funding bill to delay the deadline to avert a government shutdown.

The upper chamber approved the measure in a 77-13 vote. The measure needed 60 votes to pass. The House approved the legislation earlier on Thursday in a 320-99 vote. Should President Joe Biden sign the package, it will extend the funding deadlines to March 8 and March 22.

The split deadlines are the result of a staggered continuing resolution passed in January that split the 12 annual appropriations bills into two groups. Budget disputes have been ongoing since last year and have seen fierce internal Republican debates between debt hawks and the party's moderate wing over spending cuts.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, since assuming his post, has struggled to unite the disparate GOP factions in the lower chamber behind a spending plan and discussion of a potential one-year-long continuing resolution has cast doubt on the prospect of reaching a conventional budget deal this year.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.