President Biden last Friday signed the short-term spending bill to extend the deadline to avert a partial government shutdown by a week, CBS News reported.
Leaders of the Senate and House reached a short-term funding extension deal last Wednesday that extended the funding for some agencies until Friday, March 8 and the rest of the government through March 22 to allow time for Congress to vote this week on six of the 12 appropriations bills before March 8. Congress would then have until March 22 to pass the other six appropriations bills to fully fund the government until the end of the fiscal year in September.
The House approved the short-term extension on Thursday in a 320 to 99 vote with the Senate voting 77 to 13 to pass the measure later that day.
In a statement after Congress approved the extension, President Joe Biden said it was “good news for the American people.” However, he added that this short-term extension was “not a long-term solution,” and called on Congress to pass the 12 appropriations bills to fund the government through the remainder of the fiscal year.
Biden also called on the House to vote on the supplemental foreign aid package approved by the Senate to provide additional funding to Ukraine and Israel.
Republican Bob Good, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, criticized Speaker of the House Mike Johnson for his handling of the short-term spending bill, saying it was a “terrible decision.”
When asked if he had faith in Speaker Johnson’s leadership, Freedom Caucus member Chip Roy of Texas suggested that he would not have made the call Johnson had in agreeing to the temporary funding measure.
Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie urged Congress to pass a one-year continuing resolution to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year so lawmakers can turn their attention to preparing and approving appropriations bills for the next fiscal year.
Massie noted that Congress had only seven months before the deadline and suggested that lawmakers needed the time to “get that one right.”
