US Senate Passes Bill To Avert Government Lockdown

On Thursday, Feb 29th, 2024 ----- The US House of Senate passed a bill to prevent a government shutdown.

In the United States, government shutdowns occur when funding legislation required to finance the federal government is not enacted before the next fiscal year begins.

In a shutdown, the federal government curtails agency activities and services, ceases non-essential operations, furloughs non-essential workers, and retains only essential employees in departments that protect human life or property. Shutdowns can also disrupt state, territorial, and local levels of government, Wikipedia.

The Senate passed a short-term funding bill to prevent the looming threat of government shutdown which was expected to happen last Friday.

The final vote count was 77 to 13. The measure will now head to Joe Biden's desk in the White House.

The new funding deadlines for the government spending bills are now March 8 and March 22.

According to the president, he highlighted that while the passage of the short-term funding bill is good for Americans it's just a short-term fix, not a long-term solution.

In a continued statement, Joe Biden said

"During my meeting with Congressional Leaders this week, we all agreed on the vital importance of supporting Ukraine. That understanding must now be backed with action,"

"In addition to arming Ukraine as they defend against Russian attacks every single day, this bill will help ensure that Israel can defend itself against Hamas and other threats. And it will provide critical humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people and those impacted by conflicts around the world."

On Wednesday, US House and Senate leaders reached a bipartisan deal to avert the partial government shutdown of about 20% of the government, and create new funding deadlines: March 8 for that 20% and March 22 for the remaining 80%.