President Joe Biden signed legislation funding the federal government until mid-February, the White House said on Friday, avoiding a shutdown after some Republicans threatened a standoff over COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
The move keeps federal agencies running until Feb. 18, giving Congress another 11 weeks to thrash out either another short-term fix or a longer agreement to keep the government running.
'Funding the government isn't a great achievement - it's a bare minimum of what we need to get done,' said Biden earlier in the day.
He thanked the Senate for passing the bill in a bipartisan vote on Thursday night.
'And I want to urge Congress to use the time this bill provides to work toward a bipartisan agreement on a full year funding bill that makes the needed investments in our economy and our people, from public health education to national security,' he said.
The final vote on the short-term measure was 69 to 28, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and 18 other Republicans joining Democrats to keep the government open.
'Funding the government isn't a great achievement - it's a bare minimum of what we need to get done,' said President Biden on Friday morning. He signed legislation funding the government through mid February later in the day, the White House said
The final vote on the short-term measure was passed by the Senate 69 to 28, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and 18 other Republicans voting with Democrats
After the House passed the same bill, 221-212, with just one Republican, retiring Rep. Adam Kinzinger voting alongside the Democratic majority earlier Thursday evening, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer arrived on the floor to announce the upper chamber had a deal.
'I am pleased to announce that an agreement has been reached between Democrats and Republicans that will allow the Senate to take up and pass the continuing resolution to fund the government through February 18,' Schumer said. 'With this agreement there will be no government shutdown.'
The deal hatched in the Senate allowed for a vote on a single amendment, the Lee-Marshall amendment, which would defund Biden's vaccine mandate.
That amendment vote failed, with 48 voting to defund the vaccine mandate and all 50 Democrats voting against it.
Other Republicans who voted alongside all 50 Democrats to keep the government funded included Sens. Roy Blunt, Richard Burr, Shelley Moore Capito, Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, John Cornyn, Lindsey Graham, Cindy Hyde-Smith, John Kennedy, Jim Moran, Lisa Murkowski, Rob Portman, Mike Rounds, Marco Rubio, Richard Shelby, Thom Tillis, Roger Wicker and Todd Young.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on the Senate floor Thursday night that lawmakers had reached a deal to avert a government shutdown.
The deal hatched in the Senate allowed for a vote on a single amendment, the Lee-Marshall amendment, with Sen. Mike Lee lambasting President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate on the Senate floor shortly after Schumer's announcement
Sen. Mike Lee - who was spearheading the effort to use the government shutdown deadline to defund Biden's vaccine mandate - spoke on the Senate floor directly after Schumer's announcement of a deal.
Lee argued that the federal government doesn't have the power to
