Biden signs stopgap measure to avoid partial government shutdown

President Joe Biden on Friday signed a stopgap measure to avoid a partial government shutdown that would have taken effect at the end of the day, the White House said.

The measure keeping government funding going for a few more weeks until early March while Republicans and Democrats continue fighting over spending.

Lawmakers on Thursday narrowly averted a partial government shutdown, buying a few extra weeks to try to work out an agreement on a set of bills that will fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year.

After several days of nail-biting over Friday's looming deadline, which would have seen four of 12 government funding bills expiring, both chambers passed the short-term funding bill — allowing them to get out of town as another snowstorm headed toward the East Coast.

The legislation extends the funding expiration date for the four government funding bills set to expire on Friday to March 1. The other eight bills, which were set to run out of funding on Feb. 2, will now run out of funds on March 8.

«Avoiding a shutdown is very good news for the country, for our veterans, for parents and children, and for farmers and small businesses, all of whom would have felt the sting of the government shutdown,» Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor. «And this is what the American people want to see. Both sides working together and governing responsibly. No chaos, no spectacle, no shutdown.»

The Senate easily passed the short-term funding bill by an overwhelming vote of 77-18. The House passed it 314-108.

House Freedom Caucus members unsuccessfully pushed for Johnson to add a last-minute border amendment to the stopgap funding bill. Ahead of the vote, the House Freedom Caucus put out a statement urging all