By NADIA AUNG
The US Congress passed a bill on January 18 that would prevent a partial government shutdown the following weekend and keep federal funds flowing through March 1 and 8.
According to NBC News, the Democratic-led Senate voted 77-18 on final passage after considering a few amendments and the Republican-led House soon followed suit, passing it by a vote of 314-108.
On Friday, January 19, Biden signed the short-term spending bill, adverting a partial government shutdown until early March.
What is a government shutdown? What is the difference between full and partial shutdowns? A government shutdown happens when Congress fails to pass appropriation bills to fund government programs and operations. This falls under the Anti Deficiency Act: federal agencies cannot spend or obligate any money without approval from Congress. When Congress doesn’t pass the 12 annual appropriation bills, federal agencies are forced to suspend all non-essential functions until Congress takes action. A partial government shutdown is when Congress passes some, but not all 12, appropriation bills, and only agencies without appropriations have to shut down.
This marks the third stopgap bill since last September as the divided Congress struggles to agree on government spending bills.
House speaker Mike Johnson (R) continues to face pressure from House conservatives who want him to abandon a bipartisan agreement that sets an overall spending level for full-year bills at $1.66 trillion. Some conservatives believe that this is too much money, but moderate Republicans and Democrats say Congress should abide by that deal and avoid legislative dysfunction during an election year. In a statement, Johnson said that the short-term spending bill “is required to complete what House Republicans are working hard to achieve: an end to achieve: an end to governance by omnibus, meaningful policy wins, and better stewardship of American tax dollars.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D) and Minority Leader of the House of Representatives Hakeem Jeffries (D) both said in a statement, “we have made clear to Speaker Mike Johnson that Democrats will not support including poison pill policy changes in any of the twelve appropriations bills put before the Congress.”
As of right now, we will have to see what Congress has in plan until March 1 and March 8, which are the two new deadlines for temporary government funding.
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