One Shutdown Averted, but Another Looms

The US Senate was able to fend off a partial government shutdown in the 11th hour on Friday, voting 75-22 to approve a six-bill, $460 billion spending package that will take care of budgets for various federal departments and independent agencies, reports Politico. Per that outlet and the Washington Post, budgets that will be taken care of thanks to this deal include those for the Justice Department, EPA, FDA, Veterans Affairs, Department of the Interior, and the DOT, among others. The package is now on its way to President Biden's desk to be signed into law, which he's expected to do Saturday, the White House said, per the AP.

"Agencies will not shut down and may continue their normal operations," the White House noted. Multiple Republican amendments preceding the vote failed on the floor, such as one that banned undocumented immigrants from being tallied in state populations for the purposes of earning congressional seats. The GOP did have some wins, though, including slashing the EPA's budget by almost 10% and the FBI's by 6%.

Funding for the rest of the federal government—about 70% of it—which would cover the budgets for the federal military, education, labor, and health departments, needs to be addressed by a deadline of March 22. Approving that round is expected to be more challenging, with "negotiators ... still far apart on spending amounts and policy provisions necessary to fund those agencies," per the Post.

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"To folks who worry that divided government means nothing ever gets done, this bipartisan package says otherwise," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said regarding Friday's vote, per the AP. Republican Sen. Rand Paul, however, sees such compromise a little differently. "A lot of people don't understand this," he said. "They think there is no cooperation in Washington, and the opposite is true. There is compromise every day on every spending bill." He added: "It's compromise between big-government Democrats and big-government Republicans." (More Senate stories.)