US House of Representatives passes 45-day bill in bid to avoid government shutdown
The House Republicans and Democrats on Saturday struck a deal to fund the government and avoid a shutdown.
The House of Representatives voted 335-91 on a short-term funding bill, known as a continuing resolution, according to Sky News’ US partner network NBC News.
The bill would keep the government open for another 45 days – if signed into law by US President Joe Biden.
But it will first head to the Senate, where lawmakers there say they would not object to a speedy vote.
The vote is expected within the next couple of hours.
For bills to become law, they need to be passed through both the House of Representatives, also known as the lower house, and the Senate, the upper house.
If passed, the bill would fund the government at current 2023 levels until 17 November.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy
The US government was on course to shut down after Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy failed to agree a deal with hard right wing Republicans over discretionary spending, a necessity for the new US financial year, which starts on 1 October.
But hours away from the midnight deadline, Mr McCarthy dropped demands for steep spending cuts and, in essence, dared Democrats to vote against the deal and shutdown the government.
“Kevin McCarthy, has not been able to take anything forward with the support of the Republicans alone, so at the last minute he has said ‘okay I’m going to rely on Democrat support to push things forward’,” Sky News US correspondent, James Matthews said.
If Congress has still not passed some type of funding legislation that is signed into law by the president by the deadline, the shutdown could potentially still go ahead, meaning federal services will be frozen.
The new plan increases federal disaster aid by $16bn (£13bn) but does not include aid to Ukraine – a White House priority opposed by a growing number of Republican representatives.
Read more:
Joe Biden impeachment process: Why are Republicans pursuing it and what happens next?
Initially, Democrats objected to the lack of Ukraine aid, and complained that they had not had time to read the 71-page bill, but in the end, the vast majority agreed the deal was good enough.
“We’re going to do our job,” Mr McCarthy said ahead of voting. “We’re going to be adults in the room. And we’re going to keep government open.”
The Senate had been working on its own bipartisan bill to keep the government open, which is similar to the one proposed by the House of Representatives, but would have added $6bn (£4.9bn) for Ukraine to fight the war against Russia and $6bn for US disaster relief.
The pivot comes after the collapse of Mr McCarthy’s earlier plans that sought spending cuts up to 30% to most government agencies, that both the White House and Democrats rejected as too extreme.
Dozens of supporters were outside court as the man accused of fatally shooting the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare made his first appearance.
Luigi Mangione has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder following the 4 December killing of Brian Thompson, 50, outside a midtown Manhattan hotel.
The 26-year-old is accused of ambushing and shooting the executive as he walked to an investor conference.
Luigi Mangione supporters stand outside the Supreme Court. Pic: AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah
Dozens of people who showed up in court to support the suspect including former army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning who was jailed for stealing classified diplomatic cables.
Dozens more queued in the hallway.
Mangione is also facing federal charges that could carry the possibility of the death penalty.
The judge set a deadline of 9 April to submit pre-trial motions.
Luigi Mangione is accused of fatally shooting Brian Thompson. Pic: Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP
In addition to the New York cases, Mr Mangione also faces charges of forgery, carrying firearms without a licence, and other counts in Pennsylvania, where authorities arrested him at a McDonald’s.
Police say he was in possession of a gun, bullets, multiple fake IDs and a handwritten document that expressed “ill will” towards corporate America.
He is being held in a Brooklyn jail alongside several other high-profile defendants, including music mogul and rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, and disgraced crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried.
The killing prompted some to voice their resentment at US health insurers, with Mangione attracting a cult following.
A poll taken in the wake of the shooting showed most Americans believe health insurance profits and coverage denials were partly to blame for the incident.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports11 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway