Getty ImagesThe U.S. government passed a budget to avert a government shutdown, but the hotly debated deal does not include President-elect Donald Trump’s request to raise the federal borrowing limit.
US President Joe Biden signed the spending bill Saturday morning. The Senate passed the deal 85-11 shortly after the midnight deadline. The House approved it hours earlier by a vote of 336-34.
Without the funding agreement, millions of federal employees would have been placed on temporary unpaid leave or worked without pay.
US government debt stands at around $36 trillion (£29 trillion), with more money now being spent on interest payments alone than on US national security.
When government shuts down, public services such as parks, food assistance programs, and federally funded preschools close or have significantly reduced operations, while farmers dependent on aid and people recovering from natural disasters Support will be limited.
Lawmakers successfully negotiated a deal to fund the agency earlier this week, but it collapsed after President Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk called on Republicans to reject the deal.
The last government shutdown was during President Trump’s first term in 2019, and lasted 35 days, making it the longest in U.S. history.
The just-passed American Rescue Act of 2025 is 118 pages long, removed from the 1,547-page bill that President Trump and Musk vetoed this week. It will provide funding to the U.S. government at current levels until March 14.
President Trump’s call to raise the debt ceiling, a sticking point for Democrats and some Republican budget hawks, did not make it into the final bill, but Republican leaders said the measure would be discussed in the new year. said.
This dramatic budget battle is a precursor to the legislative battles that may lie ahead when President Trump takes office next month.
“Trying to insert a suspension of the debt ceiling into a bill at the eleventh hour is not sustainable,” House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said ahead of the vote.
He later praised the bill’s passage, saying, “House Democrats succeeded in stopping the Billionaire Boys Club.”
EPAThe deal removes measures sought by Democrats in the original version of the bill, including the first lawmaker pay increases since 2009, health care reform and provisions aimed at preventing deceptive advertising by hotels and live event venues.
It includes $100 billion in a disaster relief fund to help with hurricane recovery and other natural disasters, and $10 billion is earmarked for aid to farmers.
It also includes full federal funding to rebuild Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed after colliding with a cargo ship in March.
Musk was active in opposing earlier versions of the bill, as President Trump imposed government spending cuts in his administration.
During the debate, Republican lawmakers said they were looking forward to a “new era” with President Trump taking office on Jan. 20 and Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress. Currently, the Senate remains under Democratic control.
The budget dispute has left Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson vulnerable to criticism from members of his own party, raising questions about whether he will be able to keep his job in the Jan. 3 vote.
“I’m grateful that we all came together to do the right thing, and having completed this as our last business of the year, we’ve made a big and important new move in January,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters after Friday’s vote. We are ready for a great start.” .
He also said he spoke frequently with both Trump and Musk during negotiations.
In a post on his social media platform X, Musk praised Louisiana lawmakers’ work on the budget.
“Given the circumstances, the Speaker has done a good job here,” he posted. “We went from having bills that weighed pounds to bills that weighed ounces.”
