Biden signs temporary spending bill averting government shutdown, pushing budget fight into new year
President Joe Biden on Thursday signed a temporary spending bill aš day before a potential government shutdown, pushing a fight with congressional Republicans over the federal budget into the new year, as wartime aid for Ukraine and Israel remains stalled.
The measure passed the House and Senate by wide bipartisan margins this week, ensuring the government remains open until after the holiday season, and potentially giving lawmakerź©²s more time to sort out their considerable differences over government spending levels for the current fiscal year.
Biāden signed the billš in San Francisco, where he is hosting the summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation economies.
News of the signing came late at night.
The president signed theą¹ bill at the Legion of Honor Museum, where hešø held a dinner for APEC members.
The spending package keeps government funding at current levels for roughly two more šmonths whiš°le a long-term package is negotiated.
It splits the deadlines for passing full-year appropriations bills into two dates: Jan. 19 for soš¼me federal agencies and Feb. 2 for others, creating two dates when there will be a risk of a partial government shutdown.
The two-step approach was championed by new House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, and was not favored by many in the Senate, tź¦æhough all but one Democrat and 10 Republicans supported it because it ensured the government would not shut down for now.
Johnson has vowed thš“at he will not support any further stopgap funding measureš„s, known as continuing resolutions.
He portrayed the temporary funding billš as setting the ground for a spending āfightā with the Senatāe next year.
The spending bill does not include the&nbāsp;White Houseās nearly $106 billion request for wartime aid for Israel and Ukraine.
Nor does it provide š®humanitarian funding for Palestinians and other supplemental requests, including money foą·“r border security.
Lawmakers are likely to tš¹urn their attention more fully to that request after the Thanksgiving holiday in hopes of negotiating a š¼deal.