Americas

Americas

US House passes bipartisan bill to avoid government shutdown

01 October 2023 01:58 (UTC +04:00)

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a stopgap funding bill on Saturday with overwhelming Democratic support after Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy backed down from an earlier demand by party hardliners for a partisan bill, APA reports citing Reuters.

Time remained short to avoid the federal government's fourth partial shutdown in a decade, which will begin at 12:01 a.m. ET (0401 GMT) on Sunday unless the Democratic-majority Senate passes it and President Joe Biden signs it into law in time.

McCarthy abandoned party hardliners' earlier insistence that any bill pass the chamber with only Republican votes, a change that could cause one of his far-right members to try to oust him from his leadership role.

The House voted 335-91 to fund the government for another 45 days, with more Democrats than Republicans supporting it.

The move marked a profound shift from earlier in the week, when a shutdown looked all but inevitable. A shutdown would mean that most of the government's 4 million employees would not get paid - whether they were working or not - and also would shutter a range of federal services, from National Parks to financial regulators.

Federal agencies had already drawn up detailed plans that spell out what services would continue, like airport screening and border patrols, and what must shut down, like scientific research and nutrition aid to 7 million poor mothers.