Biden Signs Spending Bill, Staving Off a Government Shutdown

President Biden signed a short-term government funding bill on Thursday, narrowly averting a government shutdown but leaving a larger spending clash for Congress early next year.

The Senate gave final approval to the package late Wednesday, about 48 hours before a shutdown deadline at midnight Friday. In a two-step plan, the bill funds congressional priorities including military construction, veterans affairs, transportation, housing and the Energy Department through Jan. 19. Other agencies would be funded until Feb. 2.

The vote in the Senate was 87 to 11, with 10 Republicans and one Democrat, Michael Bennet of Colorado, opposing the bill. It was approved by the House on Tuesday with near-unanimous support from Democrats and nearly half of House Republicans opposing it.

The spending plan does not include additional aid for Israel or Ukraine.

Mr. Biden was in San Francisco on Thursday, where he was attending a summit of Asian-Pacific economies.

The bill funds federal agencies at current levels and does not contain any policy conditions. Democrats had insisted upon such a bill as far-right Republicans had sought deep cuts for Mr. Biden’s climate change priorities and other issues like prohibiting any funds from going toward the president’s executive order on diversity, equity and inclusion in the federal workforce.

“There will be no government shutdown,” Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said at a news conference after the bill’s passage. “Because of bipartisan cooperation, we are keeping the government open without any poison pills or harmful cuts to vital programs — a great outcome for the American people.”

Speaker Mike Johnson, who designed the package, has said he will not support any more stopgap funding plans, and framed the temporary spending measure as laying the groundwork for a “fight” with the Senate in 2024.

Katie Rogers contributed reporting from San Francisco.