Key Takeaways
- President Joe Biden has signed a bill extending government funding through March, giving lawmakers more time to work out a budget.
- Democrats and Republicans in Congress have agreed on how much the federal government can spend, but must hammer out the details.
- The signing averts, at least for the time being, the possibility of a government shutdown.
President Joe Biden signed a bill Friday funding the government until March, delaying—at least for the time being—a potential government shutdown.
Lawmakers have given themselves another few months to work out the details of next year’s budget, which was originally supposed to be approved in October. Democrats, who control the Senate, and Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, agreed earlier in January on how much the government can spend and now must work out the details of where the money will go.
The continuing resolution passed by the House and the Senate this week extends funding through March 1 for four of the 12 appropriation bills that make up the federal budget, and through March 8 for the other eight.
Some Republicans had threatened to block the spending bills if Democrats didn’t agree to steep cuts to social programs, but the spending deal made a shutdown, and the damage to the economy it would cause, more remote.
Lawmakers have been negotiating compromise spending bills, including a measure that would let more lower-income families benefit from the Child Tax Credit. As with past spending bills, they include tax cuts favored by Republicans and social spending increases favored by Democrats, leaving the $34 trillion national debt on an upward trajectory.
