The White House announced that President Biden signed an emergency funding bill on Saturday, extending government funding through March and avoiding a shutdown.
The bill provides more than $100 billion in disaster assistance to those affected by Storms Helene and Milton in the southeastern U.S. earlier this year. A $10 billion provision for economic relief to farmers was also included in the bill.
The Senate worked early Saturday morning to pass the bill 85-11, just past the deadline following a chaotic week on Capitol Hill.
SENATE PASSES THE SHUTDOWN STOPPING BILL AND SENDS IT TO PRESIDENT BIDEN’S OFFICE
The White House announced that President Biden signed an emergency funding bill on Saturday, extending government funding through March and avoiding a shutdown. (AP)
President Biden has not yet publicly commented on the passage of the legislation.
“H.R. 10545, the ‘American Relief Act, 2025,’ which provides fiscal year 2025 appropriations to federal agencies through March 14, 2025, to continue federal government projects and activities; provided credits for disaster relief and economic assistance to farmers; extends the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018; and extends several expiring authorities,” a White House statement said.
President-elect Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) clashed over spending legislation this week. (Getty Images)
THE WHITE HOUSE PRESSED BIDEN REFUSED TO SPEAK PUBLICLY BEFORE THE SHUTDOWN
President-elect Trump has not spoken publicly since the bill’s passage, although sources tell Fox that the new president is not too happy with the bill because it does not suspend the debt ceiling.
Trump had called out the Republicans to take action on the debt limit as part of their talks to avoid a government shutdown, a demand that has been opposed by dozens of conservative Republican lawmakers given their concerns about the national debt – which has surpassed $36 trillion.
A bulging, 1,547-page continuing resolution (CR) was scrapped earlier this week after objections from Elon Musk and President-elect Trump. A pared-down version was subsequently rejected by House members on Thursday before the House overwhelmingly approved Speaker Mike Johnson’s new bill on Friday by a vote of 366 to 34.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre warned Friday that a shutdown could have disrupted the new administration’s presidential transition process.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer gives a thumbs up as he leaves the Senate chamber after speaking on the floor of the Senate on December 20, 2024. ((Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images))
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer praised the passage of the funding legislation early Saturday.
“There will be no government shutdown right before Christmas,” Schumer wrote on avoids. .
Julia Johnson and Elizabeth Elkind of Fox News contributed to this report.
