Biden signs government funding bill, averting shutdown crisis
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed a government funding bill on Saturday, formally averting a shutdown crisis after Congress passed the bill.
The package funds the government at current levels through March 14, and includes $100 billion in disaster aid and a one-year farm bill. It did not include a debt limit extension demanded by President-elect Donald Trump.
The Senate passed the funding bill overnight on Saturday, shortly after the House passed the bill. The Senate vote was 85-11, and the House vote was 366-34.
The White House said in a statement that the bill had been signed but Biden has not yet weighed in publicly after the announcement.
On Friday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Biden supported the legislation that ultimately passed Congress.
“While it does not include everything we sought, it includes disaster relief that the President requested for the communities recovering from the storm, eliminates the accelerated pathway to a tax cut for billionaires, and would ensure that the government can continue to operate at full capacity,” Jean-Pierre said in Friday’s statement.
The bill’s signing caps off a chaotic few days that began when Trump and his ally Elon Musk publicly opposed the initial bipartisan deal, effectively killing it.
As the two men vocally opposed the deal, Republicans in Congress swiftly echoed their criticism.
Trump, however, also urged Republicans to extend or abolish the debt ceiling, a request that did not make it into the final bill.
Earlier this week, Trump threatened primaries for Republicans who defied his push to extend the debt limit. Republicans, however, still overwhelmingly supported the final bill.
