WASHINGTON—Both chambers of Congress on Dec. 21 passed a last-minute funding package that would extend government funding to March 14, sending it to President Joe Biden’s desk.
The legislation, dubbed the American Relief Act, passed the Senate in a late-night 85-11 vote that wrapped up not long after the midnight shutdown deadline on Saturday. The House of Representatives passed the same bill in a 366–34 vote earlier in the afternoon on Dec. 20.
The passage of the legislation by both chambers of Congress caps off a week of uncertainty as lawmakers sought to reorganize following the collapse of a previous funding agreement due to opposition from President-elect Donald Trump and other Republicans.
The U.S. Senate is still voting as the midnight deadline for government funding has passed.
That leaves the government in a limbo state, but it doesn’t quite mean that it has been shut down. In the past, the White House Office of Management and Budget has ruled that some leeway is possible if Congress is actively working on legislation to fund the government.
Currently, the Senate is voting on a procedural motion related to the Social Security Fairness Act. That bill will be considered before the Senate takes a vote on the House-passed legislation to fund the government, a vote that will likely wrap up some time after 12:15 a.m. ET on Saturday.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that lawmakers had reached a deal for a vote on a package to keep the government funded through March 14.
“I have very good news for my colleagues and the country. Democrats and Republicans have reached, just reached an agreement that will allow us to pass the CR tonight, before the midnight deadline,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
The announcement came with just around an hour remaining until the government goes into a shutdown. The vote will almost certainly extend beyond the 12:00 a.m. ET deadline, but the White House Office of Management and Budget has in the past indicated that there’s some leeway for that deadline if Congress is in the process of passing legislation.
The House of Representatives has passed a package to fund the federal government until March 2025, and the bill has yet to clear the Senate before it can reach President Joe Biden’s desk.
A number of senators have since shared their thoughts about the bill.
“I think that the bottom line is that this would have been a very unfortunate time to add the debt limit to any agreement, any CR,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters at a press conference after the House passed the bill.
WASHINGTON—Moments after the House of Representatives passed a new package to keep the federal government funded through March 14, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and other congressional lawmakers, discussed the process that brought the bill over the finish line.
“In bipartisan fashion, with an overwhelming majority of votes, we passed the American Relief Act of 2025,” Johnson said, adding that funding the government through March 2025 was “a big priority for us.”
The House speaker described the package as “America First” legislation that allows his GOP coalition to deliver a “sea change in Washington” after Inauguration Day next month.
President Joe Biden will not stand in the way of a funding package passed by the House on Dec. 20, the White House announced.
“President Biden supports moving this legislation forward and ensuring that the vital services the government provides for hardworking Americans—from issuing Social Security checks to processing benefits for veterans—can continue as well as to grant assistance for communities that were impacted by devastating hurricanes,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
That statement criticized Republicans’ decision to walk away from a previous 1,547-page proposal that ignited a social media firestorm following its release on Tuesday. President-elect Donald Trump opposed the legislation, while his ally Elon Musk vowed to primary any Republican who voted for it.
The House of Representatives on Dec. 20 approved a package to keep the federal government funded through March 14, potentially averting a government shutdown.
Lawmakers approved the funding bill in a 366–34 vote. The bill was brought to the floor under suspension of the rules, meaning that it required two-thirds support to pass. The package was supported by 196 Democrats, while all votes against the legislation were from Republicans, with one Democrat voting present.
Aside from extending the deadline for a government shutdown, the 118-page legislation includes $110 billion in emergency hurricane relief, extends the farm bill for one year, and includes a series of other minor provisions. It doesn’t include any measures on the debt ceiling, despite President-elect Donald Trump’s call that the issue be dealt with during the current lame-duck session.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) used what is likely to be his last floor speech as the Senate’s Republican leader to warn his colleagues against shutting the government down.
“I don’t care to count how many times I’ve reminded our colleagues and our House counterparts how harmful it is to shut the government down and how foolish it is to bet your own side won’t take the blame for it,” McConnell said.
“Recent history doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for interpretation on that one. When you try to use normal government function as a bargaining chip, you pay a political price.”
Republicans have released their “Plan C” legislation for funding the government with less than eight hours until a shutdown begins.
During a Dec. 20 conference meeting, Republicans decided to move forward with the 118-page plan, which would punt the government funding deadline to March 14. It wraps in an extension of the farm bill for one year, $30 billion in farm aid, and includes $110 billion in emergency hurricane relief funding alongside a series of other minor proposals.
It doesn’t include any measures related to the debt ceiling—for which President-elect Donald Trump has advocated as part of the funding package—hoping to head off a fight with congressional Democrats on the issue in mid-2025.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said there will be no government shutdown and did not provide details of the spending plan.
"We have a unified Republican conference. There's a unanimous agreement in the room that we need to move forward. I will not telegraph to you the specific details of that yet,” he told reporters following a closed-door House GOP conference meeting.
“I expect that we will be proceeding forward. We will not have a government shutdown."
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden has spoken with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) about the status of the spending negotiations.
“I can confirm just moments ago, the president was able to connect with Leader Schumer and Leader Jeffries,” Jean-Pierre said at an afternoon press briefing on Dec. 20.
The House GOP conference will be meeting in the afternoon on Dec. 20, a lawmaker familiar with the situation told The Epoch Times.
This comes just hours before the government is set to shut down. The contours of a deal have been reached, but the rank-and-file need to come to a consensus, the lawmaker said.
Additionally, according to the lawmaker, the issues surrounding the spending matter will be voted on as separate bills: funding the government at current levels, known as a continuing resolution; disaster relief; and assistance to farmers.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said on Glenn Beck’s radio show on Dec. 20 that the debt ceiling should not be raised without fiscal reforms.
“My view was I could not support that without a clear understanding of what cuts we will get in mandatory spending next year and [the] undoing of the Inflation Reduction Act, the undoing of the student loans,” he said.
“We need [an] actual understanding of what the cuts will be because, otherwise, we are asking us to accept a $5 trillion limit in our credit card increase in exchange for nothing, literally, in exchange for nothing but hope.”
Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) urged their colleagues to reach an expedient agreement on extending government funding.
“[It’s] time to go back to the original agreement we had just a few days ago,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “It's the quickest, simplest, and easiest way we can make sure the government stays open while delivering critical emergency aid to the American people.”
The majority leader contended that the initial 1,547-page bill—denounced by many Republicans and some Democrats—would pass if brought to the House floor today.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) has recirculated a resolution that would withhold pay to members of Congress in the event of a shutdown.
“Congress must face the consequences of its inaction: No pay for members who fail to do their jobs,” his office said in a post on social media platform X.
This resolution comes as government funding is set to expire at midnight on Dec. 20.
The responsibility for addressing the national debt ceiling lies with “whoever is president,” President-elect Donald Trump noted amid lawmakers’ rush to avert a government shutdown.
Trump has advocated for abolishing the debt ceiling, which has been a recurring issue in recent years as the national debt continues to climb.
Early Friday morning, the president-elect reiterated that call via his Truth Social platform.
A vote on Plan C to fund the government and, therefore, avoid a shutdown is set for 10 a.m. ET on Dec. 20, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) told reporters.
“We’re going to be negotiating here [among House Republicans],” she said. There’ll be no deals with the Democrats.”
Current funding expires at midnight tonight ET.
After a government funding bill failed to pass last night with 38 Republicans and all but two Democrats voting against it, a plan has been reached for the third time. The details are to be determined.
“Yeah, yeah, we have a plan,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters as he entered the Capitol on Friday. “We’re expecting votes this morning, so you all stay tuned. We’ve got a plan.”
The failed vote came after President-elect Donald Trump pushed for the new bill after coming out against the first proposed deal.
The government is set to shut down at midnight (ET) on Dec. 20 unless Congress passes a funding bill.
A bill last night to fund the government through March 14 that included suspending the debt ceiling until the end of January 2027 failed as most Democrats and 38 Republicans voted against it.
This bill was supported by President-elect Donald Trump, who came out against the first one and called for a debt ceiling increase.
WASHINGTON—The House on Dec. 19 voted down a pared-down, Trump-backed plan to fund the government with just more than 24 hours until a government shutdown begins.
In a 235–174 vote, lawmakers rejected the proposal. The group voting against the bill included all but two Democrats and a slate of conservative Republicans. The bill, which advanced to the floor via a method known as suspension, needed a two-thirds majority to pass.
In addition to extending the deadline for government funding through March 14, the 116-page proposal included about $30.1 billion for emergency hurricane relief, a one-year extension of the farm bill, and a suspension of the debt ceiling until Jan. 30, 2027—aligning with a demand made by President-elect Donald Trump.
Unless Congress funds the government past Dec. 20, there will be a shutdown. Such an occurrence could have major ramifications, though it may not be all doom and gloom.
The possibility of a shutdown comes after President-elect Donald Trump chimed in on a bipartisan bill to fund the government through March 14 that included other legislation such as a one-year extension of the farm bill, disaster relief, and transferring control of RFK Memorial Stadium from the federal government to the District of Columbia.