Biden Signs Spending Bill, Narrowly Averting Government Shutdown

Updated 12/21/24 1:30 p.m. EST

In its third attempt this week, the House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution to avert a government shutdown hours before the deadline. The Senate approved it shortly after midnight.

The Details: The bill extends the federal budget in its current form until March 14th and provides economic aid for farmers and relief aid for areas recently hit by natural disasters. A provision to suspend the debt ceiling, which President-elect Donald Trump advocated for, was not included. The bill passed the House overwhelmingly, with a few dozen Republicans dissenting, then passed the Senate shortly after the technical 12:01 a.m. government shutdown deadline. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law Saturday morning.

For Context: On Tuesday, the House passed a considerably larger bill, but strong pushback from Elon Musk, and later Trump, prompted Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to scrap it. On Thursday, a second bill failed after overwhelming opposition from Democrats, along with some Republicans who see debt limit suspension as a gateway to unrestrained government spending.

How the Media Covered It: Left and center media often went into detail on the conflicts between Trump and some Republicans. CNBC (Center bias) said the bill's lack of a debt ceiling provision "served as a reminder to the incoming president of just how difficult it is to control the notoriously fractious House Republican caucus." NPR (Lean Left) said the "congressional clash evoked a sense of deja vu on Capitol Hill from Trump's first term, when he would often change his demands in real time and by surprise announcement on social media." Right media tended to stick to the broad strokes of the week's developments without elaborating.