Congress Passes Temporary Spending Bill To Avoid Govt Shutdown

Congress has approved a temporary spending bill that will stave off a partial government shutdown (through the beginning of March) just one day before a crucial deadline. The House just passed the measure by a vote of 314-108. President Biden is expected to sign it before the midnight deadline on Friday. https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1748108928591040989 From the New York Times:

The 77-to-18 vote cleared the way for a vote in the House later Thursday on the measure, which would provide lawmakers more time to pass spending bills totaling $1.66 trillion to fund the government through the fall, the level Democrats and Republicans agreed upon this month.

That plan would hold most federal spending steady while bolstering the military.

House leaders announced they would take up the measure and quickly pass it in a vote expected by evening, as lawmakers rushed to leave Washington before a predicted snowstorm that they worried could ground flights and strand them in the capital for the weekend.

This is the third interim spending bill since September. The first was last fall when then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) agreed to the continuing resolution. That led to his ouster, and he’s no longer in Congress. Far-right Republican House members not pleased with the stopgap measure Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) agreed to as they have demanded much deeper spending cuts. But moderate Republicans have urged Johnson not to back out of the deal. Whack job Steve Bannon is oh-so-pissed that Johnson is supporting the temporary spending bill. https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1748063050219897085