U.S. Congress passes stopgap funding bill to avert gov't shutdown one day ahead of deadline

WASHINGTON, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Congress on Thursday passed another stopgap funding bill to extend government funding to avert a partial shutdown, just one day ahead of the Friday deadline.

The Senate voted 77-13 Thursday night to approve the bill, which cleared the House by a vote of 320-99 earlier in the day, sending the measure to President Joe Biden's desk for his signature.

The passage of the bill came just one day after congressional leaders announced that Democratic and Republican parties had agreed to fund certain government sectors and decided to prolong the existing deadlines of March 1 and March 8 until March 8 and March 22, buying Congress more time to craft annual spending bills.

This is the fourth time the U.S. Congress has approved stopgap funding bill to keep government running to buy lawmakers more time to finish the formal appropriations process for fiscal year 2024, which began on Oct. 1, 2023.

The Congress previously approved stopgap funding measures in September 2023, in November 2023, and in January.