US Congress passes stopgap funding bill on brink of government shutdown

WASHINGTON - The US Senate on Saturday night approved a House-passed 45-day stopgap funding bill in a last-minute effort to avert a federal government shutdown.

The upper chamber passed the stopgap funding measure in a vote of 88-9. Earlier that day, the House approved the bill in a vote of 335-91.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who has been struggling to gain support from hardliners in his own Republican Party on a funding bill, released the new plan Saturday morning, which would keep federal agencies funded at current levels until mid-November, and includes 16 billion U.S. dollars of funding for disaster relief.

The new bill dropped steep spending cuts sought by conservative Republicans, and does not include additional aid for Ukraine sought by Democrats.