OAN Staff Abril Elfi
9:31 AM – Saturday, December 21, 2024
A new version of a stopgap spending bill has been signed by President Joe Biden following a deadline for a partial government shutdown.
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On Saturday, Biden signed a short version of the spending bill.
Earlier this week, the original short-term bill was released with 1,547 pages that include disaster aid and a number of policy provisions.
The original version of the bill was condemned by President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance as well as by Elon Musk and other conservative figures.
“Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH. If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF. It is Schumer and Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief,” Trump and Vance said in a lengthy statement opposing the bill on Wednesday afternoon.
The original spending measure would have extended government funding levels for fiscal year 2024 through March 14th. The bill would have provided more than $100 million in relief to natural disaster victims, like those negatively affected by Hurricane Helene, which transpired in September. There was also a $10 billion provision for economic assistance to farmers in the bill.
The U.S. national debt is quickly increasing. As of Thursday, it was at $36,167,604,149,955.61.
The public outcry from Musk and others was sparked by the bill’s magnitude as well as a number of its other elements, such as raising lawmakers’ cost of living.
House Republicans returned to the drawing board and came up with a new idea on Thursday. At Trump’s request, the amended bill would have contained a two-year suspension of the debt limit and a three-month extension of current spending levels.
It also included over $110 billion in disaster help and financial assistance for farmers.
However, Democrats banded together against the plan, and a sizable portion of Republicans also chose to oppose it, causing it to fall on the House floor Thursday night.
By Friday morning, there appeared to be no agreement between Democrats and Republicans in Congress to work together on a new bill.
Like the one that failed the previous evening, the third measure eventually passed both the House and the Senate. The bill provided disaster assistance for those impacted by recent storms as well as financial help for farmers. Trump himself had called for a suspension of the debt ceiling, but it was not included in the final stopgap package.
With 366 votes in favor, the House reached the required two-thirds majority and passed the short-term budget plan.
On Friday evening, senators advanced the short version of the spending bill by 85 to 11 to Biden’s desk.
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