Washington [US]: US President Joe Biden on Thursday (local time) signed a short-term spending bill swiftly passed by Congress, which has averted a government shutdown. “The President signed into law the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act,” the White House said in a statement. It “includes a short-term continuing resolution that provides the fiscal year 2022 appropriations to federal agencies through December 3, 2021, for continuing projects and activities of the Federal Government; includes supplemental appropriations for disaster relief; includes supplemental appropriations for Afghanistan evacuees; and extends several expiring authorisations,” the statement added. Stressing that the act meets the critical and urgent needs of the nation, Biden in the statement said that it helps “disaster relief for both red and blue states hit hard by Hurricane Ida and other devastating natural disasters, and funding to help us resettle Afghan allies in the US following the end of the 20-year war in Afghanistan”. He added that that the funding will also keep up “our fight against COVID-19 and–on this International Recovery Day–it will continue our battle against the opioid crisis”. Congressional Democrats and the Biden administration have been attempting to juggle a time-sensitive legislative agenda that includes funding the government to prevent a shutdown, raising the debt ceiling, and passing a major infrastructure deal, reported Sputnik. US federal funding was set to expire tonight at midnight. The bill measure includes $28.6 billion in emergency disaster assistance and $6.3 billion to assist Afghan refugees resettle in the US.
