Senate votes to avert US govt shutdown before deadline

Washington: The US Senate approved a stopgap funding bill Thursday in a rare show of cross-party unity to avert a crippling government shutdown, as Democratic leaders struggled to broker peace among their own warring members over President Joe Biden’s imperiled domestic agenda.

The vote to keep the lights on for another two months passed comfortably with opposition Republicans supporting the Democrats, and is expected to be green-lit by the House of Representatives before the midnight deadline.

"This is a good outcome, one I’m happy we are getting done," Chuck Schumer, the top Democratic senator, told colleagues on the chamber floor ahead of the vote, which was never in doubt.

"With so many things to take care of here in Washington, the last thing the American people need is for the government to grind to a halt." The rare example of bipartisan cooperation comes with Democratic leaders trying to hammer out a deal over Biden’s faltering $3.5 trillion social spending package, which has no Republican support, and a bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill.

Democratic progressives and moderates are deeply entrenched in a war of words over the programs, as Republicans enjoy the disarray from the sidelines with one eye on next year’s midterm elections.

The Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill is due for a crucial vote in the House Thursday that appears to have no chance of passing, with the Democrats’ left wing in open revolt. The progressives don’t trust that centrists, who object to the size and scope of the larger social spending package, will honor an agreement to pass the legislation once infrastructure is across the line.

West Virginia’s Senator Joe Manchin inflamed tensions Wednesday with a statement arguing that trillions of dollars in extra spending was "fiscal insanity," solidifying opposition to the smaller infrastructure bill.

He told reporters Thursday that he was unwilling to go above $1.5 trillion. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- who says she won’t put out a bill if she doesn’t have the votes -- told reporters she planned to forge ahead. "I plan on moving forward in a positive way... And so far so good," she told reporters.