Biden signs stopgap bill to prevent government shutdown

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 01: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers prepared remarks during a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Oval Office at the White House on March 01, 2024 in Washington, DC. Biden welcomed the far-right leader to the White House for the second time in a year, praising Italy's continued support for Ukraine following Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion. Italy assumed its one-year presidency of the G7 in January.  (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

President Joe Biden signed a stopgap spending bill aimed at avoiding a partial government shutdown a day after the House and the Senate passed it.

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The White House announced that Biden signed the bill into law Friday, Reuters reported. The short-term spending bill keeps some federal agencies in operation through March 8 and others through March 22, according to The Associated Press.

The stopgap bill was passed less than 36 hours before funding was expected to run out, Reuters reported.

This bipartisan agreement prevents a damaging shutdown and allows more time for Congress to work toward full-year funding bills. That’s good news for the American people. But I want to be clear: this is a short-term fix—not a long-term solution,” Biden said in a statement Thursday.

“Congress must do its job and pass full-year funding bills that deliver for the American people. And House Republicans must act on the bipartisan National Security Supplemental, which already passed the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support and would pass the House if it was brought to a vote.”

The short-term extension is the latest of multiple extensions over the last few months, the AP reported. It is expected to be the last extension for the current fiscal year.

“Let’s finish the job of funding the government so we don’t have to do this again,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said before the vote, according to the Times. “This year, the good Lord gave us an extra day in February, so let’s make sure we finish the job and don’t drag this debate into March.”

“The appropriations process is ugly,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said, according to CNN. “Democracy is ugly. This is the way it works every year – always has – except that we’ve instituted some new innovations. We broke the omnibus fever, right? That’s how Washington has been run for years. We’re trying to turn the aircraft carrier back to real budgeting and spending reform. This was an important thing to break it up into smaller pieces.”

He added, “We’ll get the job done.”

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