Nov. 17 (UPI) — President Joe Biden signed the budget continuing resolution from Congress into law, funding the federal government until Jan. 19.
The White House announced the signing in a statement Thursday night as Biden was in California for the 2023 Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit.
According to the White House, the measure “provides fiscal year 2024 appropriations to Federal agencies through January 19, 2024, for continuing projects and activities funded in four appropriations bills.”
For the remaining eight appropriations bills, the resolution provides funding through Feb. 2.
There were major funding omissions that left out some key priorities for the Biden administration, including funding for Israel, Ukraine, humanitarian assistance and U.S. border security.
The U.S. Senate passed the budget bill 87-10 Wednesday night as Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., directly addressed Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on how to deal with threatened government shutdowns in the future.
“If the speaker is willing to work with Democrats and resist the siren song of the hard right in the House, then we can avoid shutdowns in the future,” Schumer said.
The House passed the budget bill 336-95 with Democrat and Republican votes.
Johnson relied on Democrat votes to keep the government open as the House Freedom caucus of far-right wing Republicans opposed the budget continuing resolution.
Among Democrats, 209 voted to keep the government open, joined by 127 Republicans.
But 93 Republicans voted not to keep government open. Two Democrats joined them, Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., and Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill.
House Republicans signaled they would continue to press for spending cuts once the current budget continuing resolution expires.
In a separate appropriations bill debate this week, Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., said the Republican bill would slash $60 billion from more than 50 programs while eliminating another 60. The cuts include an 80% reduction in Title 1 public education grants.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said she had never seen a bill “this inhumane.”
