WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden signed a stopgap spending bill into law on Friday that would keep the federal government running until February 18, after congressional leaders averted a partisan standoff over a federal vaccine mandate.
The White House signed the bill in a statement thanking Congressional leaders for their work. Earlier in the day, Biden said it was worth praising bipartisanship, but funding the government is not a major achievement, which is the minimum that needs to be done.
Both houses of Congress on Thursday passed legislation to avoid the government’s short-term shutdown over the weekend. The bill keeps the federal government running for 11 more weeks, generally at current spending levels, while adding $7 billion to aid the evacuation of Afghanistan.
I’m glad Cooler Heads won in the end. The government will remain open and I thank the members of this chamber for walking back from the brink of an avoidable, unnecessary and costly shutdown,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D.N.Y.
The Senate approved the measure by a vote of 69-28. Nineteen Republican senators joined with Democrats in voting for the measure.
The Democratic-led House passed the measure by a vote of 221-212. The Republican leadership urged members not to vote; The only GOP vote for the bill came from Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger.
Lawmakers lamented the short-term fixation and blamed the opposition party for the lack of progress on this year’s spending bills. Representative Rosa DeLauro, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said the measure would, however, allow talks on a package covering the full budget year through September.
Before the vote, Biden said he had spoken with Senate leaders and downplayed fears of closure: Until someone decides to be completely unsure, there is a plan, and I don’t think so. that it will happen.
Some Republicans opposing the Bidens vaccine rules wanted Congress to take a tough stand against mandatory shots for workers in large businesses, even if it meant closing federal offices over the weekend by refusing to accelerate a final vote on the spending bill .
This was just the latest example around government funding over the past two decades due to several costly shutdowns and partial shutdowns. The longest shutdown in history occurred under President Donald Trump for 35 days in January 2019, when Democrats refused to approve funding for his US-Mexico border wall. Both sides agree that the pauses are irresponsible, yet some time frame passes without delay to avoid them.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said Democrats knew last month that many Republicans would use all the tools at their disposal to oppose legislation that allows employers to impose or enforce vaccine mandates. He accused Schumer of not negotiating and ignoring his position.
Lee and Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan. wrote an amendment that prohibited federal dollars from being spent to implement and implement a series of vaccine mandates imposed by the Biden administration. The amendment lost with 48 yes votes and 50 no votes.
Lee said millions were being forced to choose between an unwanted medical procedure and losing their jobs.
Their jobs are being threatened by their own government,” Lee said.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., countered that the federal government should use every tool to keep Americans safe, and that’s why the Biden administration has taken steps to ask employers to ensure their employees are fully protected. be vaccinated in this manner or test negative before their test. come into sight.
Nobody wants to go to work and is worried they might come to their family home with a deadly virus,” Murray said.
The White House sees vaccination as the fastest way to end a pandemic that has killed more than 780,000 people in the United States and is still evolving, as troubling new cases hit the country on Wednesday. Seen in the first case of the version.
Courts have knocked back against the mandate, including a decision this week that bars a requirement for some health care workers from being enforced.
The administration has rolled out vaccine requirements for several groups of workers, but the effort is facing legal setbacks.
A federal judge this week blocked the administration from enforcing a vaccine mandate on thousands of health care workers in 10 states. Previously, a federal appeals court temporarily blocked the OSHA requirement affecting employers with 100 or more workers.
The administration has also implemented policies that require millions of federal employees and federal contractors, including military servicemen, to be fully vaccinated. Those efforts are also being challenged.
Associated Press polling shows Americans are divided on Biden’s effort to vaccinate workers, with Democrats heavily for it while most Republicans are against it.
Some Republican Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind. to vote to reject the administration’s mandate in next week’s congressional review action, which is separate from the funding battle.
Separately, some health care providers opposed the stopgap spending measure. Hospitals say nothing has been done to protect them from the Medicare payment cut scheduled to take effect amid uncertainty about the new Omron version.
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Associated Press staff writer Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.
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