After a series of intermittent delays, President Trump finally signed up a bill that would prevent a government shutdown- as it would fund the Senate and Congress for another week. This was the highlight on Friday evening- for without this most of the federal agencies would have no money to function at midnight. The move from the Senate came after Sanders, the independent Senator from Vermont finally acquiesced to his demands for a direct payment. The old Senator mentioned how he wouldn’t be one of those people who would let the government shutdown- or even keep people working on weekends.
Why Was the Government Shutdown Imminent?
Needless to say, the effort from all sides of the Senate did help in negating a tension that was on the brink of explosion. Most members felt that a government shutdown seemed imminent. Bernie Sanders also mentioned that he would definitely bring these points up yet again when the continuing resolution gets over in a week. He believes Congress shouldn’t be adjourning for the holidays until a resolution for the stimulus package is in sight.
In his statement, the Senator declared to pull down his demands for the moment- but he was sure to bring it up at the next meeting. After all, they would be dealing with the financial conundrum of all the citizens of the country. One would think that this stopgap measure ought to pass without any delays, but there was huge traffic at the Senate.
Interestingly, the legislation to avoid government shutdown did pass the House of Representatives by quite a large majority- but it got stuck behind the National Defense Authorization Act in the Senate. After the resolution to finally avoid a government shutdown, the legislators banded together to allow one last vote on the bill of defense. Although the President did try to veto the entire procedure- there was quite a majority in both of the chambers.
