Senate Lawmakers Take First Steps in Advancing Bill to Prevent Government Shutdown

Measure grants both chambers more time to approve longer-term funding

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) at a Menorah lighting ceremony at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, on Dec. 12, 2023. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Senate lawmakers on Jan. 16 took the first steps aimed at preventing a partial government shutdown, ahead of a rapidly approaching deadline scheduled for the end of the week.

Lawmakers in the upper chamber voted 68-13 to begin voting on a temporary stopgap spending bill—the third temporary spending measure this fiscal year—overcoming the first procedural hurdle and moving it closer to passage ahead of the Jan. 19 deadline.