A shutdown of the U.S. federal government was narrowly avoided with a last-minute spending measure passed by Congress.
The stopgap spending bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate and signed by U.S. President Joe Biden just hours before the 1 October deadline to avoid a shutdown.
The federal government entered a partial shutdown last week after Congress failed to pass new funding that would keep the government running beyond fiscal year 2023, which ended Saturday night. But in a reversal, U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) introduced a bill that spurned demands from the far right of his party and gained support from House Democrats. The bill passed on a 335-91 vote, with more Democrats than Republicans supporting it. The legislation passed the Senate by an 88-9 margin, and Biden signed the bill soon after…