Getty ImagesThe U.S. government passed a budget to avert its shutdown, but the bitterly controversial deal does not include a call from President-elect Donald Trump to increase the federal borrowing limit.
US President Joe Biden signed the spending bill on Saturday morning. The Senate adopted the agreement shortly after midnight, by a vote of 85 to 11. The House of Representatives approved it a few hours earlier by a vote of 336 to 34.
Without a funding agreement, millions of federal employees would have found themselves either on temporary leave without pay or working without pay.
The US government’s debt stands at around $36 trillion (£29 trillion), and more money is now spent on interest payments alone than on US national security.
A shutdown would have closed or significantly reduced operations of public services such as parks, food assistance programs and federally funded preschools, while limiting aid to farmers who rely on humanitarian aid and to people recovering from natural disasters.
Lawmakers successfully negotiated a deal earlier this week to fund government agencies, but it collapsed after Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk called on Republicans to reject it.
The last government shutdown occurred during Trump’s first presidential term in 2019 and lasted 35 days, the longest in U.S. history.
The just-passed American Relief Act of 2025 is 118 pages long, taken from a 1,547-page bill that Trump and Musk rejected this week. It will fund the US government at current levels until March 14.
Trump’s call to raise the debt ceiling — which was a sticking point for Democrats and some Republican budget hawks — was not included in the final bill, but Republican leaders said it measure would be debated in the new year.
The dramatic budget fight is a preview of the legislative struggles that could await us when Trump takes office next month.
“Trying to force a debt ceiling suspension into legislation at the last minute was not viable,” Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said before the vote.
He then praised the bill’s passage, saying, “House Democrats have succeeded in stopping the billionaire boys’ club.”
EPAThe deal removes measures Democrats sought in the first version of the bill, including lawmakers’ first pay raise since 2009, health care reforms and provisions to bar hotels and event venues live to engage in misleading advertising.
It includes $100 billion in disaster relief funds to help rebuild after hurricanes and other natural disasters, and allocates $10 billion in aid to farmers.
It also includes full federal funding to rebuild Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed when he was hit by a cargo ship in March.
Musk, who Trump charged with cutting government spending under his administration, had lobbied hard against the previous version of the bill.
During the debate, Republicans said they looked forward to a “new era,” with Trump taking office on Jan. 20 and controlling both houses of Congress. Currently, the Senate remains under Democratic control.
Budget wrangling has left Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson bruised as he faces criticism from members of his own party, raising a question mark over his ability to win the Jan. 3 vote in the House to keep his position.
“We are grateful that everyone came together to do the right thing and, having accomplished this now as the last order of business for the year, we are ready for an important new start in January,” Johnson said to journalists after Friday’s vote. .
He also said he spoke to Trump and Musk frequently during the negotiations.
Musk praised the Louisiana congressman’s work on the budget in a post on X, the social media platform he owns.
“The President has done a good job here, given the circumstances,” he said. “It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces.”