Congress Avoids Government Shutdown

After a long and arduous journey, Congress has officially passed a bipartisan, short-term funding bill to avoid a government shutdown. The short-term bill will curb the shutdown until November 17 when a new bill must be passed.

Despite being a bipartisan deal, the bill notably drops some measures desired by Democrats like aid for Ukraine, which has been a sticking point for many Republicans as well.

Various Senate leaders called for increased aid to Ukraine including Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Susan Collins (R-ME).

In a joint statement released by Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the politicians urged for the funding to continue.

“In the coming weeks, we expect the Senate will work to ensure the U.S. government continues to provide critical and sustained security and economic support for Ukraine.”

On Saturday, September 30, President Joe Biden (D) signed the measure.

"This is good news for the American people," said the president.

However, Pres. Biden still took issue with the delay in the bill's passing which many have blamed on a group of Republicans known as the "Freedom Caucus".

"I want to be clear: we should never have been in this position in the first place. Just a few months ago, Speaker McCarthy and I reached a budget agreement to avoid precisely this type of manufactured crisis."

"For weeks, Extreme House Republicans tried to walk away from that deal by demanding drastic cuts that would have been devasting for millions of Americans. They failed."

$6 billion was abandoned in aid for Ukraine.

In other news, after a meeting with fellow democratic members of Congress, New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez (D) stated his plans to remain in office and not step down after bribe allegations.

In a statement at what has been described as a closed-door luncheon, Sen. Menendez stated his intentions to continue his duties.

"I will continue to cast votes on behalf of the people of New Jersey as I have for 18 years. And I am sure when they need those votes, they’ll be looking for it, for me to catch those votes," said Sen. Menendez.