Lawmakers Strike Spending Deal but Government Shutdown Still Looms

Top lawmakers announced a deal on Thursday to keep the government funded through mid-February, but a group of Senate Republicans was still threatening to force a shutdown over the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for large employers.

With less than 48 hours before funding is set to lapse, the House was expected to vote later Thursday to keep the government open through Feb. 18 and provide $7 billion for the care and resettlement of Afghan refugees. But the fate of the measure was uncertain in the Senate, where unanimity would be needed to expedite its...