Congress passes funding package and averts government shutdown

The Democratic Party successfully passed the funding package at the last minute, avoiding a government shutdown. This was made possible thanks to an agreement with the Republican party in the Senate during the early hours of Saturday. The bill passed with 74 votes in favor and 24 against.

This $1.2 trillion funding package - which received the support of the House of Representatives a few days ago - will allow the Biden administration to finance federal agencies until September.

The bill passed after the midnight deadline. After an intense debate, enough Republican senators agreed to vote in favor of the bill. "We have just reached an agreement to complete the job of funding the government tonight. It wasn’t easy, but tonight our persistence has been worth it. It is good for the American people that we have reached this bipartisan deal," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

The fact that Senators breached the midnight deadline led to the interruption of funding for the Department of Defense and other agencies, forcing them to temporarily close non-essential operations and issue instructions to employees.

However, this brief shutdown is expected to have little to no impact on federal workers or the public. In fact, in longer government shutdowns, many essential government services, such as Social Security payments, continued to function.