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| The US Congress building on Capitol Hill in Washington | Photo: AFP |
The House of Representatives passed a bill on Friday to avert a partial shutdown of the federal government. The bill was passed in a single vote just hours before the shutdown began. Democrats, along with Republicans, supported the bill.
The bill's passage in the lower house of Congress (366-34 votes) has raised the possibility that funding for US federal agencies will continue until mid-March. However, the state funding bill (government spending package) must now be approved by the upper house of Congress, the Senate.
The Senate doesn't have much time to approve the bill. It must be approved by midnight (0500 GMT) Saturday, or federal agencies will begin to shut down.
Earlier on Thursday, the US President-elect Donald Trump-backed funding bill failed to pass the House of Representatives. Thirty-four Republican lawmakers voted against the bill introduced in the House that day to fund the federal government, ignoring Trump's call to pass the bill.
If the bill fails to pass, there is a risk that the activities of the US central agencies will be partially closed from today. In this situation, a vote was held again yesterday to avoid a shutdown. Like yesterday, almost all Democratic members of the House of Representatives supported the bill in Thursday's vote.
"Today, our Democrats strongly defended their commitment to cooperation, not division," Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson wrote in a post on social media after yesterday's vote. "The American people want a government that works for them."
If senators refuse to approve the bill, a shutdown will begin. This will severely disrupt various programs dependent on the central government. There will be a deadlock in various departments of the government. Airport operations will be disrupted. In that case, the upcoming Christmas travel may be severely disrupted.
Under the shutdown, non-essential government activities will begin to close, up to 875,000 workers will be laid off, and another 1.4 million workers will have to work without pay.
The Democratic-led Senate is expected to follow the House of Representatives in approving the bill, but the main question now is how quickly senators will act.
Getting congressional approval for government funding is always a complicated task, as both houses of Congress are closely divided between Republicans and Democrats.
President-elect Trump has already made his position on the shutdown clear. He said on social media, "If there is a government shutdown, it should start now under a Biden administration."
And the White House has said that President Biden is willing to sign the bill into law if the Senate approves it.