President Biden Signs Bill To Keep Government Funded Through Feb 18

President Joe Biden signed a bill to keep the government funded through Feb. 18, avoiding a shutdown.

The final vote in the Senate was 69-28 and the final vote in the House was 221-212, with Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., being the only House Republican who voted in favor of the bill.

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In a 69-28 vote, the U.S. Senate has passed a short-term funding bill to keep the government open until February 18.

60 votes were needed.

The bill now heads to President Biden's desk to be signed into law before midnight tomorrow night.

Government shutdown avoided.
— Taylor Popielarz (@TaylorPopielarz) December 3, 2021

The passage of the stopgap bill came as Republicans threatened to shut the government down over Biden’s executive order mandating businesses with at least 100 employees to require their employees to either get vaccinated or subject them to regular testing and mask mandates.

A GOP amendment to prohibit federal funding for the COVID-19 mandate failed to pass the Senate by a vote of 50-48. The bill is set to include $7 billion for Afghan refugees who assisted the U.S. military during the war in Afghanistan.

The deal will give lawmakers more time to raise the debt ceiling and avoid a debt default, which would “eviscerate” the nation’s economic recovery and trigger a recession, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. The same stopgap measure was agreed to in October, but that deal was set to expire today.

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