The U.S. Senate passed a last-minute spending bill on Saturday night to avert a government shutdown until mid-November as Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy backed down from an earlier demand for a partisan bill.
The Senate voted 88-9 to pass the continuing resolution 3 hours before the 12:01 a.m. deadline that would cause a shutdown within the government sectors as more than four million government employees would not get paid. The 45-day measure is now heading to President Joe Biden’s desk for the final signature.
The 71-page short-term bill from McCarthy did not include the controversial new financial assistance for Ukraine’s ongoing war with Russia. Since the invasion of Russia and Ukraine, the U.S. has spent $43 billion in security assistance for Kyiv.
