Congress and President Biden Reach Agreement to Avoid Government Shutdown, But Future Fights Remain Unresolved

Late Saturday night, President Joe Biden signed a bill to fund the government, just hours before the government was set to enter a technical shutdown. The bill was passed by Congress and filed by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy eight minutes before midnight.

The bill will keep the government open through November 17th and will avoid requiring millions of military service members to work without pay and hundreds of thousands of civilian workers to be sent home. It will also provide disaster relief funding, but will cut out aid for Ukraine.

Members of both parties expressed relief that the bill was passed and signed in time to avoid the shutdown. Rep. Hakeem crowed that the bill “meets the needs of the American people, across the board.”

However, the bill is likely to only delay, not resolve, future fights. McCarthy had been avoiding the bill for months under pressure from far-right Republicans, and only embraced it when it became clear that the government would shut down without it.

The bill is a temporary solution that will keep the government open for now, but it is unclear how the future fights will be resolved.