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The bill, which passed the Senate in a bipartisan 77-13 vote,
will next go to President Joe Biden's desk for signing into law.
It will set deadlines to fund one part of the government by
March 8 and the other portion by March 22.
In a statement, Biden said the passage was good news for
Americans because it avoids a damaging shutdown, but added,
"this is a short-term fix, not a long-term solution."
Earlier on Thursday, in the House, 207 Democrats joined 113
Republicans in a 320-99 vote to approve the short-term stopgap
measure, which buys Congress more time to agree on funding for
the full fiscal year that began Oct. 1.
About two months have passed since Republican House Speaker Mike
Johnson and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, agreed on
a $1.59 trillion discretionary spending level for the fiscal
year.
Johnson, who has wielded the speaker's gavel only since late
October, once again relied on a procedural move that required
Democrats to provide most of the support to pass the stopgap
spending bill, a tactic that could anger hardline conservatives.
That and 97 "no" votes from his 219-member Republican conference
could spell trouble for the speaker as he takes up six full-year
appropriations bills next week and moves on to the thorny issue
of Ukraine aid.
Three House Republicans, including House Foreign Affairs
Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, predicted Johnson would take
up aid to Ukraine, Israel and U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific
after completing another six spending bills by March 22. The
Senate in bipartisan vote earlier this month passed the $95
billion national security bill.
"I'm the eternal optimist. I think we're going to get it done,"
said McCaul, who said the legislation could include a loan
program instead of direct assistance and provide the means to
seize and liquidate Russian sovereign assets as an offset.
Biden called on House Republicans "to put our national security
first and move with urgency to get this bipartisan bill to my
desk."
Republican Representatives Brian Fitzpatrick and Don Bacon have
also proposed aid legislation for U.S. allies that would revive
the return-to-Mexico border policy and strip out humanitarian
assistance.
Even with passage of Thursday's temporary funding bill, Congress
still faces potential battles during the next few weeks over
funding levels for many programs that conservatives want to pare
back.
Johnson had been pressured by hardline Republicans to use a
shutdown as a bargaining chip to force Democrats to accept
conservative policy measures, including partisan provisions to
restrict the flow of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Representative Chip Roy told reporters that this faction of
Republicans now hopes to persuade Johnson to put a new spending
bill on the floor that would fund the government through Sept.
30 but cut non-defense spending while preserving levels for
defense and veterans benefits.
"We believe that we could do that. We believe that actually
presents a good alternative," Roy told reporters.
Republican Representative Patrick McHenry predicted that Johnson
would face no threat as a result of votes on spending
legislation, unlike his predecessor Kevin McCarthy, who a small
group of hardliners voted out of leadership for passing a
bipartisan bill to avert a shutdown in September.
"This is the House Republicans coming to terms with reality,"
said McHenry. "It's been clear for months that this is the
outcome. To get on with it is the best thing."
Major ratings agencies say the repeated brinkmanship is taking a
toll on the creditworthiness of a nation whose debt has
surpassed $34 trillion.
(Reporting by David Morgan and Richard Cowan; Additional
reporting by Makini Brice and Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by
Cynthia Osterman and Christopher Cushing)
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