Government shutdown updates: Biden signs stopgap funding measure
The president signed the 45-day bill on Saturday night.
The U.S. seemed to be barreling toward what would have been one of the largest government shutdowns in history -- until a stopgap 45-day funding bill was hastily passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden on Saturday night, not long before the deadline.
Had lawmakers failed to reach an agreement, 3.5 million federal workers would have been expected to go without a paycheck, millions of women and children would have lost nutrition assistance, national parks would likely have closed and more.
The temporary legislation, which lasts until mid-November, affords more time for the House Republican majority and the Senate's Democratic majority to work out longer-term bills.
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Senate passes stopgap funding bill
The Senate passed a stopgap funding bill Saturday that will fund the government through November and will avert a government shutdown.
With just hours to the midnight deadline, the Senate overwhelmingly voted to keep the government open until Nov. 17 by a vote of 88-9.
The House passed the measure earlier Saturday.
The measure will now head to President Biden's desk to be signed into law.
The bill the Senate passed includes disaster relief but leaves Ukraine aid on the cutting room floor.
-ABC News’ Rachel Scott, Allie Pecorin and Mariam Khan
Senate now voting on stopgap funding bill
The Senate is now voting on the House-passed short-term funding bill. The bill, which funds the government for 45 days and provides funding for disaster relief, is expected to pass overwhelmingly. It'll need 60 votes to clear the Senate.
Once the bill passes the Senate, it will head to President Joe Biden's desk for his signature just hours before a shutdown.
After a day of upheaval about how to proceed, all Senators present agreed to move forward with this vote on Saturday. That doesn't mean they were happy with it.
The thorn in the side of a lot of Senators Saturday is that they're passing a stopgap funding bill with no Ukraine aid attached. There are Democrats and Republicans in the Senate who are deeply unhappy with the anti-Ukraine sentiments and the fact that Congress failed to deliver more support to Ukraine just one week after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came hat in hand.
The anger about moving forward without Ukraine aid was so intense that it caused the Senate to stall for several hours while waiting to pass the bill.
Colorado Democrat Michael Bennet stopped the Senate from voting for several hours until he received assurances that there would be a vote on supplemental aid to Ukraine. Bennet was ultimately satiated by commitments on the floor from both Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that Ukraine aid would remain an urgent topic of discussion in the upper chamber.
"I have very good news for the country. Democrats and Republicans have come to an agreement and the got will remain open we will have avoided a shutdown," Schumer said. "The bipartisanship which has been the trademark of the Senate has prevailed and the American people can breathe a sigh of relief, but this is a bridge CR and Leader McConnell and I have agreed to continue fighting for more economic and security aid for Ukraine. We support Ukraine's efforts to defend its sovereignty against Putin's aggression."
McConnell echoed those sentiments.
"Most Senate Republicans remain committed to helping our friends on the front lines by investing more heavily in American strength that reinforces our allies and deterring our top strategic adversary: China. I'm confident the Senate will pass further urgent assistance to Ukraine later this year but let's be clear the alternative to our action today was an entirely avoidable government shutdown that would not just pause our progress on these important priorities it would actually set them back," he said.
It's not clear exactly how the Senate will proceed with trying to fund Ukraine. A number of options were floated Saturday that the Senate will continue to work through when it returns next week.
-ABC News' Rachel Scott, Allie Pecorin and Mariam Khan
As clock ticks toward a shutdown, Senate is in a holding pattern
The Senate is not voting, as the clock is ticking toward a government shutdown.
Earlier Saturdayday the House passed its short-term funding bill, which funds the government for 45 days and provides disaster aid. But the Senate has been in recess for a few hours now and is running out of time to pass the House bill before the midnight deadline.
All Senators in the chamber have to agree to hold a vote tonight. Right now, one is standing in the way.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., is demanding that Senate leadership assure him they'll hold a vote at some point soon on additional funding for Ukraine, which the House stripped out of the bill. If they can't assure him, he might block the Senate from holding a vote Saturday night.
It's not yet clear what the way out of this is. Sources are generally optimistic they'll find a work around before the clock strikes midnight, but it could be a nail-biter.
-ABC News' Rachel Scott and Allison Pecorin
McCarthy to GOP critics: 'Bring it'
Speaking to reporters after the House vote, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., struck a bipartisan tone -- and told those members who want to oust him because he worked with Democrats to "bring it."
"It's all right if Republicans and Democrats joined together to do what is right," McCarthy said. "If somebody wants to make a motion against me, bring it. There has to be an adult in the room."
Asked by ABC News if he was satisfied with the final tally, which had largely Democratic votes, McCarthy said: "I think at the end of the day, we kept the government open, kept paying our troops to finish the job we have to get done."
McCarthy said he had "tried every possible way listening to every single person in the conference."
"I don't want to be a part of that team,” he continued, referring to the far-right members of the Republican party. "I want to be part of a conservative group that wants to get things done."
-ABC News' Rachel Scott and Benjamin Siegel