The U.S. Congress passed a spending bill early Saturday that boosts funding to avoid a disruptive government shutdown ahead of the busy holiday season.
The Democratic-controlled Senate by a vote of 85-11 passed a bill to continue federal funding 38 minutes after the midnight deadline. The government has not called for shutdown procedures yet.
The package previously swept the Republican-controlled House of Representatives with bipartisan support.
US President Joe Biden signed the bill into law on Saturday.
The overnight vote capped a torrid week in which president-elect Donald Trump and his billionaire partner Elon Musk defeated a bipartisan primary deal, snarling Congress.
The US Congress passed the spending bill early Saturday morning, avoiding a disruptive government shutdown ahead of the busy holiday season. In a vote of 85-11, the Democratic-controlled Senate passed a bill to continue federal funding 38 minutes after it expired at midnight.
The final version stripped some of the provisions pushed by Democrats, who accused Republicans of allowing pressure from an unelected billionaire with no experience in government.
Congress did not act on Trump’s request to raise the debt ceiling, a politically difficult task, before he took office on January 20.
The federal government spent about $6.2 trillion last year and has more than $36 trillion in debt, and Congress will need to act to authorize more borrowing by the middle of next year.
The legislation extends federal funding through March 14, and provides $100 billion to disaster-hit states and $10 billion to farmers.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Republicans will have more power to influence government spending next year, when they will have majorities in both chambers of Congress and Trump will be in the White House.
“This was a necessary step to close the gap, it puts us in that moment where we can put our fingers on the final spending decisions,” he told reporters after the vote. He said Trump supports the package.
A government shutdown would disrupt everything from law enforcement to national reserves and freeze the paychecks of millions of government workers.
A travel industry trade group warned that the shutdown would cost airlines, hotels and other companies $1 billion a week and cause widespread disruption during the busy Christmas season. Authorities have warned that travelers will face long queues at airports.
The package is similar to a bipartisan plan that was scrapped earlier this week after an online spat from Trump and Musk, who said it contained several unrelated provisions, such as pay raises for lawmakers and layoffs for pharmacy benefit managers.
Republicans struck most of those items in the bill — including a provision limiting investment in China that Democrats said would conflict with Musk’s interests.
“He obviously doesn’t want to answer questions about how much he plans to expand his business in China and how much American technology he plans to sell,” Democratic Representative Rosa DeLauro said on the House floor.
Musk is happy with the deal
Trump has appointed Musk, the world’s richest man, to lead the budget-cutting team, but Musk has no official position in Washington.
Musk wrote on his social media platform X that he was happy with the package. “It went from a building weighing pounds to a building weighing ounces,” he wrote.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the package still accomplishes important goals, such as providing disaster relief, avoiding a shutdown and preventing Republicans from passing debt-raising legislation that would facilitate tax cuts.
“We have successfully improved the daily needs of the American people, but there is still work to be done and we look forward to that battle in the new year,” he told reporters.
Trump’s demand to increase the debt ceiling was surprisingly rejected by the House – which includes 38 Republicans – on Thursday.
Rep. Rich McCormick, one of the 34 Republicans who voted against the bill, said it did nothing to change the state’s finances and would only add to the debt burden.
“We will be an old country if we continue to do what we are doing,” he said.
The federal government ended a 35-day shutdown during Trump’s first term because of a dispute over border security.
Previous disputes over the debt ceiling have damaged financial markets, as a default by the US government could send a debt shock around the world.
The limit is set under an agreement that technically expires on Jan. 1, although lawmakers likely wouldn’t have to deal with the issue before spring.
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