Senate Passes Spending Bill In Push To Avert Government Shutdown

The debt ceiling crisis remains unresolved, however.

The Senate on Thursday passed a spending bill to keep the government open through the beginning of December in hopes of averting a shutdown mere hours before federal funding ran out.

Lawmakers from both parties agreed to keep federal funding levels unchanged until Dec. 3, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced Wednesday night, after days of budgeting fights between the two parties.

The bill also included funds for resettling Afghan refugees and for hurricane relief. Republicans’ attempts to amend the funding bill — including to limit Afghan refugees’ access to benefits and to prohibit the use of federal funds to enforce COVID-19 vaccine mandates — all failed. Several Republicans, such as Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, were eager to get the emergency funding after Hurricane Ida battered their states.