Late Friday night, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a spending bill hours before the deadline approved by the U.S. Senate Saturday morning, avoiding a shutdown which was prolonged due to Congress’s inability to pass a comprehensive spending bill.
The bill was originally 1,527 pages but was shortened to 118 pages by the time of passage. The House passed the bill 366-34 followed by the Senate vote 85-11.
The reasons for the prolonged showdown include partisan divisions; with Democrats prioritizing social programs and Republicans proposing spending reductions, tensions within the Republican party on compromising with Democrats, last minute budget proposals – specifically proposed by president elect Donald Trump, disagreements on whether to include policies to address to the debt ceiling, and continuous disputes on issues like energy and immigration.
According to the New York Post, “Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk objected Thursday to what they called a bloated initial funding package.”
Some of the specific approved provisions in the budget include: not reauthorizing the U.S. State Department’s Global Engagement Centre since it “has been accused of pushing online censorship”, allocating $100 billion in disaster relief funds, and $10 billion in aid to farmers’ agricultural efforts.
Congress chose to delay addressing the debt ceiling and to temporarily continue funding federal programs, as these issues are sources of heated debates both between and within the Democratic and Republican parties. The bill package included an extension until March 14, 2025 to allow Congress to provide a more comprehensive budget agreement.
Nearly a million federal workers faced the prospect of unpaid furloughs during the holiday season, while essential services, like military operations and air traffic control, would have continued with workers unpaid.
Ultimately, lawmakers struck a last-minute deal to keep the government open, avoiding a shutdown just hours before the deadline. This agreement reflected bipartisan compromise but left lingering questions about how Congress will address similar funding challenges in the future, particularly regarding long-term budget reforms and the debt ceiling – as the U.S. approaches a highly contentious second Trump administration.
