华盛顿-总统乔·拜登美国国会星期五签署法案，为政府再提供一个星期的资金。与此同时，议员们赶在回家度假和新一届国会宣誓就职之前，完成一项全年支出计划的工作。
国会在9月份通过了一项法案，让政府运行到周五午夜。最新的延期将为联邦机构提供资金，直到12月23日。周四晚上，参议院以71票对19票通过了该法案。
“谈判继续朝着正确的方向发展，但我们仍有许多工作要做，而且没有足够的时间来完成这些工作，除非我们将政府资金再延长一周，”参议院多数党领袖、纽约州民主党人查克·舒默(Chuck Schumer)在敦促立法者支持这项权宜之计时表示。
正在谈判的大约1.7万亿美元的一揽子计划将为政府机构在10月1日开始的当前财年的日常运作提供资金。社会保障和医疗保险等项目的联邦支出不属于年度拨款程序，也不包括在一揽子计划中。
众议院共和党人压倒性地呼吁将期限延长至明年初，这样他们就可以在设定评级机构支出水平方面发挥更大的作用。本周早些时候，众议院的民主党人能够在共和党支持很少的情况下推进该法案。
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但参议院共和党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)认为，本届国会通过全年支出法案比其他方案更好，因为它能确保国防支出大幅增加。
麦康奈尔周三表示:“如果下周晚些时候参议院最终通过一项真正的两党全年无毒丸法案，我将支持我们的武装部队。”“否则，我们将在新的一年里通过一个短期的持续决议。”
一些参议院共和党人人不同意在众议院共和党人掌权之前通过支出法案。犹他州共和党参议员李政颖。他说，他支持短期延长至明年，因为这将意味着最终的一揽子计划中“更多的共和党优先事项”。
参议院拨款委员会的共和党领袖理查·谢尔比说，两党在总支出上相差约250亿美元。但立法者周二晚上宣布，他们已经就一个“框架”达成一致，该框架应允许谈判在下周完成。
预计最终的法案还将包括拜登政府要求的另外370亿美元的援助乌克兰以及其他两党的优先事项，包括选举旨在防止1月6日再次发生暴动措施。该法案将使立法者更难反对某个特定州的选举人票，并明确副总统在程序中的宪法角色仅是部长级的。
Biden signs bill to keep government open through Dec. 23
WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden signed legislation Friday to fund the government for an additional week as lawmakers race to finish work on a full-year spending package before they head home for the holidays and a new Congress is sworn in.
Congress in September passed a bill to keep the government running through midnight Friday. The latest extension funds federal agencies through Dec. 23. It passed the Senate on Thursday evening by a vote of 71-19.
“Negotiations keep trending in the right direction, but we still have a lot of work left to do and not enough time to do it, unless we extend government funding for another week," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in urging lawmakers to support the stopgap measure.
The roughly $1.7 trillion package being negotiated would finance the day-to-day operations of government agencies for the current fiscal year that began Oct. 1. Federal spending on programs such as Social Security and Medicare is not part of the annual appropriations process and is not included in the package.
House Republicans overwhelmingly have called for a longer-term extension into early next year so they could have a bigger role in setting spending levels for the agencies. Democrats in the House were able to advance the bill with little GOP support earlier this week.
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But Sen. Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the Senate, has made the case that passing a full-year spending bill this Congress is better than the alternatives because it ensures a sizable increase in spending for defense.
“If a truly bipartisan full-year bill without poison pills is ready for final Senate passage by late next week, I’ll support it for our Armed Forces,” McConnell said Wednesday. “Otherwise, we’ll be passing a short-term continuing resolution into the new year.”
Some Senate Republicans disagreed with efforts to pass a spending bill before House Republicans could take charge. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah., said he supported providing a short-term extension into next year because that would mean “more Republican priorities" in the final package.
Sen. Richard Shelby, the lead Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, has said the two parties were about $25 billion apart on overall spending. But lawmakers announced Tuesday night that they had reached agreement on a “framework” that should allow negotiations to be completed by next week.
The final bill is also expected to include the Biden administration’s request for another $37 billion in aid to Ukraine as well as other bipartisan priorities, including an election measure designed to prevent another Jan. 6 insurrection. The bill would make it more difficult for lawmakers to object to a particular state’s electoral votes and make clear that the constitutional role of the vice president in the proceedings is solely ministerial.
