The Senate passes a bill to end the shutdown and sends it to President Biden’s desk

Senators voted to pass a new version of a spending freeze bill early Saturday morning after the midnight deadline for a partial government shutdown came and went.

The Senate advanced the third version of a short-term spending bill by 85 to 11, and it will now go to the desk of President Biden, who has already signaled that he will sign it.

An original deal on a short-term spending bill was released earlier this week, totaling 1,547 pages and including a number of policy provisions and disaster relief.

But soon after its release, billionaire Elon Musk and other conservative critics publicly blasted the measure, ultimately resulting in its condemnation by President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance.

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“Republicans need to GET SMART and TOUGH. If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, CALL THEIR BLUFF. It’s Schumer and Biden withholding aid to our farmers and disaster relief,” Trump and Vance said in a lengthy statement opposing the bill Wednesday afternoon.

The original spending measure would have extended the fiscal year 2024 government funding level through March 14 and provided over $100 billion in disaster relief to those affected by storms Helene and Milton in the southeastern United States earlier this year. There was also a $10 billion provision for financial assistance to farmers in the bill.

In the meantime, starting Thursday United States national debt was at $36,167,604,149,955.61 and continued to rise rapidly.

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The bill’s size, along with several of its other provisions, including a cost-of-living increase for lawmakers, prompted public backlash from Musk and others.

“Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” He wrote on X.

After going back to the drawing board, House Republicans came up with a new proposal Thursday. The revised measure would have extended current funding levels for three months and included a debt limit suspension for two years, at Trump’s request.

In addition, it had financial relief for farmers and about $110 billion in disaster relief.

But the bill failed in the House of Representatives on Thursday night as Democrats united against it and a sizable group of Republicans also chose to oppose it.

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“Old bill: $110BB in deficit spending (unpaid), $0 increase in national credit card. New bill: $110BB in deficit spending (unpaid), $4 TRILLION+ debt ceiling increase with $0 in structural reforms for cuts. Time to read bill: 1.5 hour I will vote no,” wrote Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, on X ahead of the vote.

Roy was one of 38 House Republicans who opposed the recess bill.

As of Friday morning, there appeared to be no agreement between Democrats and Republicans in Congress to work together on a new bill. In fact, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., said the government would go into a partial shutdown at midnight if Republicans did not revert to the original stopgap law.

“I’m ready to stay here through Christmas because we will not let Elon Musk run the government,” Murray said in a statement.

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Schumer said in remarks on the Senate floor that the original bill would pass the House if Speaker Mike Johnson brought it to the floor for a vote.

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The third measure, which ultimately passed the House and Senate, was similar to the one that failed the night before. The bill included financial relief for farmers and disaster relief for those affected by recent storms. However, the final interim bill did not include a suspension of the debt ceiling that Trump himself had requested.

The House passed the short-term spending bill with 366 yes votes, exceeding the necessary two-thirds majority.