(VOVWORLD)-The US Senate narrowly averted a partial government shutdown on Friday, as the chamber approved spending legislation for several government agencies just hours before current funding was due to expire.
 The United States Capitol in Washington DC (Photo: Xinhua/VNA) |
By a bipartisan vote of 75-22, the Senate approved a 467.5 billion USD spending package that will fund agriculture, transportation, housing, energy, veterans and other programs through the end of the fiscal year on September 30th. The package now heads to Democratic President Joe Biden to sign into law.
The package easily passed the Republican-controlled House of Representatives earlier this week. Although the US has started the 2024 fiscal year more than 5 months ago (from October 1st last year), Congress has yet to approve the 12 annual spending bills of the federal budget, causing some government agencies to face the risk of closure from March 9th.
Currently, Congress must still work out a deal on a much larger package of spending bills, covering the military, homeland security, health care and other services. Funding for those programs expires on March 22. Taken together, the two packages would cost 1.66 trillion USD.