US Congress passes bill to avert partial government shutdown

The House approved the short-term funding measure by a 254-175 vote not long after Senate passage in a 65-35 vote. Picture: AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

With only hours to spare, Congress passed legislation that would avoid a partial federal shutdown and keep the government funded through to early December, and sent the bill to President Joe Biden.

The back-to-back votes by the Senate and then the House will help avert one crisis, but just delay another as the political parties dig in on a dispute over how to raise the government’s borrowing cap before the United States risks a potentially catastrophic default.