The Senate approves measure to keep the government funded only hours before shutdown deadline

• The Senate cleared a measure that barely averted a government shutdown on Thursday.
• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was confident that the bill would pass the House and reach Biden later in the day.
• But it does nothing to resolve a debt limit standoff that’s pushing the US to the brink of default.
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The Senate cleared a measure to keep the government funded only hours before the shutdown deadline, but it does nothing to break a deadlock initiated by Republicans that’s pushing the US closer to default.

The short-term “continuing resolution” passed the Senate in a 65-35 vote, and the legislation will keep the government’s doors open through December 3. The bill also included $28 billion disaster aid funding for communities ravaged by a recent pair of hurricanes, along with aid to resettle Afghan refugees in the US.

“This is a good outcome,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech before the vote. He was confident the House would approve the bill later in the day and send it to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature before midnight.

“The last thing that Americans need is for the government to grind to a halt,” he said.

Yet the bill excluded a debt limit hike that Republicans shot down on Monday, as they step up their drive to undercut President Joe Biden’s multitrillion-dollar economic agenda.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell again insisted on Thursday that Democrats would have to approve an increase in the nation’s borrowing cap unilaterally through reconciliation. That requires only a simple majority vote, but the arduous process contains procedural hurdles that Democrats may not be able to clear by December 3.

Now, the US is only 18 days away from a default that could potentially impact every part of the economy, ranging from delayed Social Security checks, missed payments for US troops and federal workers, and force cuts to unemployment insurance and Medicaid.

This story will be updated.