Congress on Thursday approved a measure to avert a government shutdown, delaying key deadlines and buying themselves more time to finish a bigger funding agreement. <\/p>\n
Facing an end-of-the-week deadline, the House of Representatives passed a bill to temporarily fund one set of federal agencies through March 8 and another set through March 22. It quickly moved to the Senate, which passed it Thursday evening, on a 77-13 vote. The bill now goes to President Joe Biden to be signed into law ahead of a Saturday deadline.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we pass this bill, we will have, thank God, avoided a shutdown with all its harmful effects on the American people,\u201d Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat, said right before the vote.<\/p>\n
Without action, a handful of agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, would partially close early Saturday. The remaining agencies, including the Pentagon, would partly shutter after March 8. <\/p>\n
In the meantime, Congress will aim to pass\u00a0packages of legislation to fund the government\u00a0for the remainder of the budget year.<\/p>\n
Investors may not be hurt by a brief shutdown, as stocks
\n SPX<\/a>
\n \u00a0have risen during previous government closures. But farmers would lose access to loans, initial public offerings could be halted and U.S. troops and other federal employees would go without pay. <\/p>\n