President Joe Biden signed a temporary bill today, Friday, that was previously approved by Congress before the midnight deadline to avoid forcing the U.S. government into a shutdown due to funding shortages. The White House stated in a statement today that, "the document has been signed into law," noting that Biden thanked the lawmakers who participated in working on this document.
Earlier, on Thursday, the U.S. Congress approved a bill to prevent the government shutdown. The majority of members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of a measure approved by the Senate that avoids a partial government shutdown by funding federal agencies during the new fiscal year that starts on Friday. The bill is now headed to President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign the measure into law before the midnight deadline, when current government funding is set to expire.
Shutdowns carry significant economic costs, as the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the 2018-2019 shutdown affected U.S. GDP by $3 billion in the fourth quarter. The looming shutdown now could be particularly damaging. In 2018, Congress had already passed five of the twelve appropriation bills needed to keep the government running, but so far this year, nothing has been passed.
