The US House of Representatives voted Friday to avert a government shutdown with just hours to spare, with Democrats joining Republicans to advance a funding bill keeping the lights on through mid-March.
Lawmakers sent a package to the Senate that would keep federal agencies running through mid-March – but the upper chamber only has until midnight (0500 GMT) to follow suit or federal agencies will begin shutting.
Although the House is run by the Republicans, who introduced the bill, 34 of the party’s backbenchers voted against it, while almost every Democrat was a yes.
“Today, Democrats stood firm in our commitment to collaboration, not division. The American people deserve a government that works for them,” senior Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson posted on X.
If senators drag their feet, the government will still cease to be funded at midnight, and non-essential operations will start to grind to a halt, with up to 875,000 workers furloughed and 1.4 million more required to work without pay.
The Democratic-led upper chamber would be expected to follow the House, however, and the main question now is how quickly senators will move.
Congress’s setting of government budgets is always a fraught task, with both chambers closely divided between Republicans and Democrats.
The latest drama intensified after Republican President-elect Trump and tech billionaire Musk, his incoming “efficiency czar,” pressured his party to renege on a funding bill they had hammered out with Democrats.
Two subsequent efforts to find compromise fell short, leaving Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson at the last chance saloon as he huddled with aides to keep government agencies running.
If the bill fails Senate scrutiny, non-essential government functions will be put on ice. Employees in key services like law enforcement would continue working but would only be paid once government functions are back up.
Many parks, monuments and national sites would close at a time when millions of visitors are expected.
