President Biden signed a short-term spending bill on Thursday that averts an immediate government shutdown but ensures another partisan fight in Congress during the lame-duck session in December.
In a statement after the bipartisan measure passed both chambers of Congress on Wednesday, Mr. Biden praised lawmakers for giving themselves more time to try to work out differences and set spending levels over the course of the next year.
“My administration will work with Congress to ensure these bills deliver for America’s national defense, veterans, seniors, children and working families and address urgent needs for the American people, including communities recovering from disasters,” he wrote.
The House and Senate passed the short-term measure, known as a continuing resolution, after leaders in both parties said they did not want an impasse to lead to a politically damaging government shutdown just weeks before Election Day. The lopsided votes were 341 to 82 in the House and 78 to 18 in the Senate.
The measure keeps federal funding flowing through Dec. 20.
Longer-term spending bills had been stalled in recent weeks as conservatives demanded a provision that would have required those registering to vote to show proof of citizenship. Democrats opposed that measure, saying that former President Donald J. Trump was trying to inject immigration into the election-year debate.
Speaker Mike Johnson initially tried to pass a spending bill with the conservative provision, but that effort failed, leading to the possibility that the government’s ability to spend money would run out before the election.
The short-term measure that Mr. Biden signed on Thursday passed Congress with mostly Democratic votes. All 18 votes opposing the bill in the Senate were Republicans, and many of the 82 “no” votes in the House came from conservatives who had insisted upon the immigration provision.
Under the terms of the bill, spending will continue at current levels for 12 more weeks.
The one change included was $230 million in additional funding for the Secret Service in the wake of two failed assassination attempts on Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.
