Congress Averts Shutdown with Last Minute Weekend Deal
On Saturday (September 30), Congress came to a deal on a short-term funding bill just hours before the midnight deadline, which would have shut down most of the federal government, furloughing roughly 2 million employees and disrupting services. The bill funds the government at the current 2023 levels until November 17. The agreement dropped aid to Ukraine, which was a White House and Senate priority. However, it increased federal disaster assistance by $16 billion, $10 billion more than proposed by the Senate, meeting the White House’s request.