House approves government spending temporarily to avoid US government shutdown

United States got one step closer to avoiding government shutdown as House approves temporary funding solution. The new pitch on Saturday struck a deal between House Republicans and Democrats to avert shutdown and in turn also avoiding the economic pain that would have inflicted on millions of American families.

With an overwhelming vote of 335-91, the House passed short-term funding bill, known as continuing resolution or CR. The bill will now head to Senate where lawmakers say they will not object to a speedy vote.

The bill will allow the government to postpone its shutdown by 45 days if signed into law by President Joe Biden. This is buy some more time for the House and Senate to finish fuller funding legislation.

The surprising deal came together after speaker Kevin McCarthy, R. Calif, reversed course and put so-called “clean” 45-day CR on the floor, with billions in disaster aid, however it did not include aid for Ukraine, which Democrats had pushed for. This comes after days of protests that any short-term funding bill would need to include deep spending cuts and tough border security measures.

By putting a clean bill forward, the Speaker dared Democrats to vote against it and shut down the government. The latter raise objection to Ukraine aid missing from the new deal and also complained that they did not have enough time to read the 71-page bill, as the leadership stalled the time by employing procedural tactics and giving lengthy speeches.