Congress passed a funding bill to avoid the US government shutdown

The US Senate passed bipartisan legislation to avert a government shutdown on Saturday evening, three hours before the midnight deadline.

The bill, which was overwhelmingly supported by 88 to 9 votes, would appoint the government for the next 45 days until November 17.

Late Saturday, President Joe Biden announced on X (formerly Twitter) that he had signed the bill into law.

Tonight, bipartisanship in the House and Senate voted to keep the government open, preventing an unnecessary crisis that would cause unnecessary pain to millions of hardworking Americans.

He thanked the bipartisan majorities in both the House and Senate for averting an unnecessary crisis.

All Democratic senators supported the measure, with nine dissenting votes from Republicans.

The House passed the legislation by a 335-91 margin after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy earlier decided to seek Democratic support for the short-term funding bill.

Ultimately, the bill received more support from Democrats than Republicans in the House, with 90 Republicans voting for it and only one Democrat opposed.

Notably, Ukraine funding, sought by Democrats but opposed by many Republicans, was left out of the bill. However, the bill includes funding for disaster relief.

McCarthy had to rely on the Democratic vote because of opposition from the far-right faction in his party.

The Speaker implemented a voting process that requires a two-thirds majority of 290 votes in the 435-member House to ensure approval.

Before the vote, McCarthy emphasized the high cost of the government shutdown, especially to Americans in uniform.

Both Republicans and Democrats have called for the safety of the American people to be a priority and have underlined that it is unfair to deny the payment of those who risk their lives to defend the country.

Government shutdowns may also affect Crypto.

The US government shutdown could have had negative effects on the progress of crypto accounts pending the vote, which could have affected the future of cryptocurrency regulation.

In July, lawmakers from the House Financial Services Committee endorsed several crypto-specific bills.

They gathered support for the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT), the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, the Payment Transparency Stablecoins Act, and the Your Coins Act, among the most prominent bills passed by the committee.

These bills may come up for a vote in the House during the current session of Congress.

However, a government shutdown halts lawmakers' ability to pass any legislation.

According to Ron Hammond, director of government relations for the Blockchain Association, among the bills awaiting a vote are those that have bipartisan support and must pass a floor vote.

“Politically, there are a lot of mines that can either carry the bill or any deal,” he noted.