Biden signs $1.2 trillion spending package for government funding until October

• President Biden signed Congress' $1.2 trillion spending package into law, hours after the Senate passed at 2 a.m. ET Saturday morning.
• Congress approved $459 billion for the first six appropriations bills earlier in March.
• Biden's approval of this final tranche of bills ends a months-long saga of lawmakers struggling to secure a permanent budget resolution and instead passing stopgap measures to keep the government's lights on.

President Joe Biden on Saturday signed Congress' $1.2 trillion spending package, finalizing the remaining batch of bills in a long-awaited budget to keep the government funded until Oct. 1.

Almost halfway into the fiscal year, the president's signature ends a months-long saga of Congress struggling to secure a permanent budget resolution and instead passing stopgap measures, nearly averting government shutdowns.

"The bipartisan funding bill I just signed keeps the government open, invests in the American people, and strengthens our economy and national security," Biden said in a Saturday statement. "This agreement represents a compromise, which means neither side got everything it wanted."

The weekend budget deal slid in just under the wire before the Friday midnight funding deadline, as has been typical this fiscal year with eleventh-hour disagreements derailing near-complete deals.

The Senate passed the budget in a 74-24 vote at roughly 2 a.m. ET Saturday morning, technically two hours after the deadline due to last-minute disagreements. However, the White House said that it would not begin official shutdown operations since a deal had ultimately been secured and only procedural actions remained.

The House passed its own vote Friday morning after a week of scrambling to reconcile a lingering