As the Friday deadline approached for the government shutdown, Congress has passed a stopgap spending bill to allow it to function through December 22.
The additional time will be used for reconciling several pieces of unfinished business.
The bill passed through Senate with a high approval rate of 81-14, while the House was divided almost cleanly along party lines at 235-193.
The bill will now be sent to the President’s desk.
Among the unfinished bipartisan business to be discussed are funding for hurricane-hit Florida, Texas and Puerto Rico, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the budget.
Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California said in back-to-back statements that the quick huddle ahead of the vote was “productive”, but that no specifics were finalized and discussions would continue.
Several Democratic priorities were apparently discussed, including money for the fight against opioid use, as well as matters relating to immigration (Dreamers) and health care.
GOP leaders meanwhile “stressed the need to address border security, interior enforcement and other parts of our broken immigration system,” and added that the issue of immigration “should be a separate process and not used to hold hostage funding for our men and women in uniform.”
The Democrats stood fast on the issue of Dreamers after they face deportation because of President Trump reversing government protection afforded to them by former President Barrack Obama.
The issue further escalated after Trump blurted out to reporters on Wednesday that a government shutdown “could happen,” blaming the Democrats for wanting “illegal immigrants pouring into our country, bringing with them crime, tremendous amounts of crime.”
As such, the immigration issue could be a tricky one to resolve considering the limited time available on extended spending.
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