US President signs a bill averting potential government shutdown, with Israel and Ukraine aid still stalled

President Joe Biden averted a potential government shutdown by signing a temporary spending bill, setting the stage for an ongoing budget dispute with congressional Republicans into the new year. The bipartisan measure, which passed both the House and Senate with significant margins, ensures that the government remains operational until after the holiday season. The move provides lawmakers with additional time to address their substantial disagreements regarding spending levels for the current budget year. The signing took place on Thursday in San Francisco, where President Biden was hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The news of the signing emerged late at night, coinciding with the president’s dinner for APEC members at the Legion of Honor Museum. The wartime aid for Ukraine and Israel remains stalled amid this budgetary uncertainty. The spending package keeps government funding at current levels for roughly two more months while a long-term package is negotiated. It splits the deadlines for passing full-year appropriations bills into two dates: Jan. 19 for some federal agencies and Feb. 2 for others, creating two dates when there will be a risk of a partial government shutdown. The two-step approach was championed by new House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, and was not favoured by many in the Senate, though all but one Democrat and 10 Republicans supported it because it ensured the government would not shut down for now. Johnson has vowed that he will not support any further stopgap funding measures, known as continuing resolutions. He portrayed the temporary funding bill as setting the ground for a spending “fight” with the Senate next year. The spending bill does not include the White House’s nearly $106 billion request for wartime aid for Israel and Ukraine. Nor does it provide humanitarian funding for Palestinians and other supplemental requests, including money for border security. Lawmakers are likely to turn their attention more fully to that request after the Thanksgiving holiday in hopes of negotiating a deal. With inputs from AP.