House sends bill to Biden to avert government shutdown at midnight
By Cristina Marcos - 09/30/21 03:48 PM EDT
The House on Thursday passed legislation to prevent a government shutdown with only hours to spare before the midnight deadline, albeit without any measure to avert a debt default in a few weeks.
Lawmakers voted 254-175 to send the bill, which keeps the federal government funded through Dec. 3, to President Biden for his signature. Thirty-four Republicans voted with all Democrats in support of the bill.
The House last week passed the same bill along party lines, but with a provision that suspended the debt limit until mid-December of next year.
The Senate failed to advance the original House-passed bill on Monday due to Republicans’ insistence that they will not vote to prevent a debt default, which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said could happen after Oct. 18 if Congress doesn’t act in time.
Faced with the prospect of a government shutdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Democrats ultimately opted to detach the debt limit suspension from the government funding bill.
The Senate voted 65-35 earlier Thursday afternoon to send the stopgap government funding bill back to the House without any provision to address the debt limit.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/house/574760-house-sends-bill-to-biden-to-avert-shutdown-at-midnight
