President Joe Biden signed a stopgap funding bill into law Saturday, extending government funding into March, after President-elect Donald Trump upended the effort to prevent a shutdown earlier in the week by coming out against an initial bipartisan deal.
After signing the bill into law, Biden released a statement describing the final agreement as a “compromise” that funds necessary priorities and praised it as “good news” ahead of the holiday season
The House voted Friday evening and the Senate voted shortly after midnight to pass the stopgap bill that continues the government’s funding and provides disaster relief and farm aid.
House GOP leaders dropped a demand from Trump over a suspension of the debt limit, leaving Republicans scrambling to find a path forward and highlighting the limits of the president-elect’s influence on Capitol Hill despite his position as leader of the party.
As a result of Trump’s opposition, House Republicans tanked the bipartisan deal, infuriating Democrats. The GOP-led House then tried and failed on Thursday to pass a funding plan backed by Trump that would have included a two-year suspension of the debt limit after the president-elect called on Republicans to take up the issue.
Democrats balked at the plan, arguing that the GOP effort to suspend the debt limit would help Trump pass his tax plan. But it wasn’t just Democrats who voted against the Trump-backed bill. A significant number of House Republicans joined with almost all Democrats to vote it down, kicking off a tumultuous 24 hours on Capitol Hill where Congress appeared headed toward a shutdown.