US Senate approves short-term spending bill as govt shutdown deadline looms

Washington, Oct 1 : The US Senate on Thursday passed a short-term spending bill to avert shutdown as government funding is set to expire in just a few hours, sending the bill to the House of Representatives for approval.

By a vote of 65-35, the upper chamber approved the measure to keep the government funded through December 3, Xinhua news agency reported.

The House is expected to approve the measure later in the day.

The Senate approval of the stopgap funding bill came after days of partisan fight over a debt limit provision, as Democrats had intended to incorporate a suspension of the debt limit into the short-term government spending bill, a move opposed by Republicans.

Republican lawmakers argued that Democrats should do that on their own, since they control both chambers of Congress and the White House, while complaining about a lack of bipartisanship in crafting President Joe Biden's $3.5-trillion spending plan.

Senate Republicans previously said that they would support a "clean" stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown, pressuring the Democrats to remove the debt limit provision.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Wednesday evening that an agreement had been reached.