To avoid a partial and embarrassing federal government shutdown, Congress — just two days before the deadline — approved a stop-gap funding bill, which also provides desperately needed money to help fight the Zika virus.
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The bill will keep the government funded from Oct. 1 through Dec. 9 — but lawmakers will then need to approve new and longer-term funding.
The bipartisan legislation came shortly after lawmakers on both sides of the aisle ended a months-long fight over whether Washington should provide aid to the city of Flint, Michigan, as it struggles with a crisis over contaminated drinking water, as Reuters and other sources reported.
Separate legislation was approved by the House of Representatives earlier in the day, which determines aid for Flint — but that bill has to be reconciled with a somewhat different bill passed by the Senate.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers called the approved legislation “a last resort, but at this point it is what we must do … to keep the lights on in our government.”
The Senate voted 72-26 earlier on Wednesday to adopt the short-term spending bill.
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