Congress Reaches Bipartisan Deal to Avoid Government Shutdown

What’s the story?

• Congress reached a bipartisan agreement Wednesday night on a stopgap funding bill to prevent a partial government shutdown from beginning after fiscal year 2021 ends at 11:59pm Thursday night.
• The bill will include a continuing resolution to fund the government through December 3rd, giving Congress nine weeks to negotiate funding for the rest of fiscal year 2022. It will also fund disaster relief and resettlement of Afghan evacuees. Per Republicans’ request, the bipartisan bill will not contain an extension of the debt limit, so that issue will linger with a looming deadline of October 18th.
• Senators will vote on a series of amendments to the House-passed bill starting at 10:30am Thursday, starting with several Republican amendments followed by adoption of the bipartisan substitute amendment, and passage of the amended bill.
• The Senate should conclude those votes by early afternoon, after which the House Rules Committee will be able to meet to prepare the bill for floor debate. A vote on final passage should occur in the afternoon and be signed into law by President Joe Biden Thursday evening just hours ahead of the midnight deadline.

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: iStock.com / Greg Meland)