After both the House of Representatives and Senate passed a stopgap funding plan Thursday, President Joe Biden signed the continuing budget resolution to keep the federal government open through Dec. 3.
The action prevented the Department of Energy and other federal agencies from largely shutting down at midnight. The short-term funding bill will hold spending at National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) nuclear weapons programs at about $19.7 billion, which is a little less than unreconciled appropriations bills working their way through Congress would have allowed for the fiscal year that started Friday.
The White House did not ask lawmakers to provide permission for the NNSA to spend above 2021 levels for the duration of the continuing resolution.
The Senate passed the continuing resolution, or CR, 65-to-35 and the House then passed the measure 254-to-175. Congressional approval came after Democrats, who have the slimmest of majorities, separated the two-month spending plan from an extension of the U.S. debt ceiling, which must be periodically increased to facilitate government borrowing. Action on that is still needed by Oct. 18 or the U.S. government could default on its debts.
“There’s so much more to do,” Biden said in a statement on his bill signing. In addition to the debt ceiling, media reports at deadline suggested the House of Representatives would not vote today on an infrastructure bill supported by the White House and a number of Senate Republicans. Some more liberal Democrats have been balking at passing the $1-trillion infrastructure bill unless the House moves it in tandem with a much larger, $3.5-trillion package that deals with issues ranging from child care to climate change.
“But the passage of this bill reminds us that bipartisan work is possible and it gives us time to pass longer-term funding to keep our government running and delivering for the American people,” Biden said.
