Biden signs bill averting a government shutdown

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden signed a bill Saturday that prevents a government shutdown, bringing a final close to days of upheaval after Congress approved a temporary funding plan just past the deadline, denying President-elect Donald Trump the core debt claim in the package.

The deal funds the government at current levels until March 14, bringing in $100 billion disaster relief and $10 billion in agricultural subsidies for farmers.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had insisted that lawmakers would “fulfill our obligations” and not allow federal operations to close. But the outcome at the end of a tumultuous week was uncertain after Trump insisted the deal included an increase in the government’s borrowing limit. If not, he had said, let the closures “start now.”

Johnson’s revised plan was approved 366-34, and it passed the Senate by an 85-11 vote after midnight. At the time, the White House said it had suspended shutdown preparations.

“There will be no government shutdown,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y.

Johnson, who had spoken with Trump after the House vote, said the compromise was “a good result for the country” and that the president-elect was “very pleased with this result.”

The final product was the third attempt by Johnson, the beleaguered speaker, to achieve one of the basic demands of the federal government — to keep it open. The difficulties raised questions about whether Johnson will be able to keep his job, in the face of angry Republican colleagues, and work with Trump and his billionaire allies Elon Muskwho called the legislative plays from afar.

The House is scheduled to elect the next speaker on Jan. 3, 2025, when the new Congress convenes. Republicans will have an exceedingly narrow majority, 220-215, giving Johnson little margin for error as he tries to win the speaker’s gavel.

A House Republican, Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, criticized Republicans for the deficit spending in the bill and said he was now “undecided” about GOP leadership. Others are also signaling displeasure with Johnson.

Still, Trump’s last-minute debt limit demands were an almost impossible ask, and Johnson had little choice but to sidestep those pressures. The speaker knew there would not be enough support within the slim Republican majority alone to pass a funding package because many Republican deficit hawks prefer to cut the federal government and would not allow more debt.

Instead, Republicans, who want full control of the White House, House and Senate in the new year, with big plans for tax cuts and other priorities, are showing they must routinely rely on Democrats for the votes needed to keep up with routine governance operations .

The federal debt is about $36 trillion, and the rise in inflation following the coronavirus pandemic has pushed up the government’s borrowing costs so that debt service next year will exceed national security spending. The last time lawmakers raised the debt limit was June 2023. Instead of raising the limit by a dollar amount, lawmakers suspended the debt limit through January 1, 2025.

There’s no need to raise that limit right now because the Treasury Department can start using what it calls “extraordinary measures” to make sure the U.S. doesn’t default on its debt. Some estimate that these accounting maneuvers could push the default deadline to the summer of 2025. But that’s what Trump wanted to avoid because an increase would be necessary while he was president.

GOP leaders said the debt ceiling would be discussed as part of tax and border packages in the new year. Republicans made a so-called handshake deal to raise the debt limit at the time while also cutting $2.5 trillion in spending over 10 years.

It was essentially the same deal that flopped Thursday night — minus Trump’s debt demands. But it falls far short of the original deal Johnson struck with Democratic and Republican leaders — a 1,500-page bill that Trump and Musk rejected, forcing him to start over. It was stuffed with a slew of other bills — including much-mocked pay raises for lawmakers — but also other measures with broad bipartisan support that now have a more difficult path to becoming law.

Trump, who has not yet been sworn into office, is showing the power but also the limits of his influence with Congress as he intervenes and orchestrates affairs from Mar-a-Lago alongside Muskwho heads the new Department of Government Efficiency.

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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves, Mary Clare Jalonick, Darlene Superville and Bill Barrow contributed to this report.