A bill to keep the federal government funded until September 30, the end of the US fiscal year, received the necessary number of votes during a procedural vote in the Senate.
62 senators voted in favor, 38 opposed. At least 60 votes needed to pass midterm vote.
Ten Democrats voted in favor of the bill proposed by the Republican Party. However, one Republican, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, voted against it.
This increases the chances of the Republican bill passing a final vote, which is expected to take place later today. In the final vote, Republicans must win a simple majority, which they have in both houses of Congress. After that, the document will be sent for signature to US President Donald Trump, who has expressed his support for it.
If the document is not approved by 23:59 on March 14 (05:59 Bulgarian time on March 15), a shutdown will occur - the work of some government departments and programs will be suspended, the payment of salaries to hundreds of thousands of government employees will be temporarily suspended, and many of them will be sent on unpaid leave.
The bill to continue funding the federal government until March 14 was signed into law in December 2024 by the previous head of the US administration, Joe Biden. Since 1977, such funding has been suspended more than 20 times due to disagreements between the administration and Congress. The longest period was 35 days, from December 22, 2018, to January 25, 2019, during Trump's first term.