United States House of Representatives cleared a legislation to fund the government hours after the bill was approved by the Senate. It will now be sent to the White House for approval from President Joe Biden.
The government funding bill cleared the House of Representatives with a tally of 254-175.
A large majority of Republicans in both chambers voted against it. The legislation was needed to keep the government running once the current budget year ended at midnight Thursday. Passage will buy lawmakers more time to craft the spending measures that will fund federal agencies and the programs they administer.
The vote comes after weeklong negotiations in the legislative houses between members of the Democratic and Republican parties, who were divided on funding the government after keeping the increase in the debt ceiling of the country at the centre of the debate.
The United States Senate earlier cleared the bill with a tally of 65-35 on Thursday. However, the legislation, which has been dubbed as a ‘stopgap bill’, will only fund the federal government bodies of the United States till December 3, 2021.
This likely means that the negotiations have just been delayed for the time are may pick up again later this year.
The United States House of Representatives also has other key bills in the lineup that are likely to be voted upon Thursday. This includes the infrastructure bill, a substantial part of United States President Joe Biden‘s political agenda.
The infrastructure bill, which has been valued at $1 trillion, at the risk of being stalled in the United States House of Representatives, which is majorly controlled by Democrat lawmakers.
With their energy focused on Biden’s agenda, Democrats backed down from a showdown over the debt limit in the government funding bill, deciding to uncouple the borrowing ceiling at the insistence of Republicans. If that cap is not raised by October 18, the United States probably will face a financial crisis and economic recession, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said, according to reports from Associated Press.