Facing a midnight deadline on September 30, the House voted Thursday afternoon to avert a federal government shutdown, though not for long, after the Senate took similar action.
House aligns with Senate, votes to avert government shutdown, 254-175
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) September 30, 2021
By a vote of 254 to 175, the House voted to align its bill with a Senate version — passed 65-35 earlier on Thursday — aimed at keeping the government funded at its current levels until early December.
The Senate has voted to avert a government shutdown tonight, 65-35. The vote needed 60 yeas. This funds the government at current levels. The bill now goes to the House for a vote this afternoon or evening.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) September 30, 2021
President Biden is expected to sign the bill to avoid the shutdown as attention in Congress moves back to Speaker Pelosi's planned vote on the infrastructure bill, the fate of which has serious implications for President Biden's agenda as Democrat leaders scramble to deliver a win for the president amid multiple crises at home and abroad.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bill to fund government, avoid federal shutdown clears Congress, awaits Biden's signature.
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) September 30, 2021
Republican Leader Mitch McConnell spoke on the Senate floor after the vote and said "we were able to avoid a shutdown because the Democratic majority accepted reality and listened to what Republicans have consistently said for months," adding "they will need to do the same thing on the debt limit."
This week in the Senate proved that clumsy partisan jams will not work. We were able to avoid a shutdown because the Democratic majority accepted reality and listened to what Republicans have consistently said for months. Now they will need to do the same thing on the debt limit. pic.twitter.com/a1GYqvFnMc
— Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) September 30, 2021
Instead of shutting down at midnight, the temporary extension in federal funding that passed with bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress only advanced the deadline to December 3rd.
Before that deadline, though, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has predicted that the federal government will hit the debt ceiling on October 18th. If the debt ceiling is not lifted by an act of Congress before then, the U.S. government will default. Democrats insist the debt limit increase should be a bipartisan effort, but Republicans say the onus is on their colleagues across the aisle due to the multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure and budget reconciliation bills Biden wants passed.