The US Congress approved a stopgap funding bill Thursday in a rare show of cross-party unity to keep federal agencies running into 2022 and averted a costly holiday season government shutdown.
With the clock ticking down to the 11:59pm deadline on Friday, the Senate voted by 69 to 28 to keep the lights on until February 18 with a resolution that had already advanced from the House.
The “continuing resolution” avoids millions of public workers being sent home unpaid with Christmas approaching, causing parks, museums and other federal properties and services to close.
“I am glad that, in the end, cooler heads prevailed — the government will stay open,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
“And I thank the members of this chamber for walking us back from the brink of an avoidable, needless and costly shutdown.”
A small group of hardline Republicans threatened to tank the measure due to objections over federal vaccine and testing mandates.
But Democrats agreed to allow a straight majority vote on defunding President Joe Biden's vaccine-or-testing mandate for large companies, which promptly failed as expected.
The right-wing Republican group, led by Utah's senior senator, Mike Lee, argued that the mandate is an assault on personal liberty.
Before the vote in the Senate, the US House of Representatives on Thursday passed the funding bill to keep the government operating.
Despite support for the stopgap from most Republican senators, a cluster led by Kansas Republican Roger Marshall, demanded a vote on an amendment that would block funding for the Covid-19 private-sector workplace mandates imposed by the Biden administration.
“We don’t want an economic shutdown,” Mr Marshall claimed on Thursday. “An unconstitutional federal vaccine mandate is going to lead to an economic shutdown.”
“I don’t think shutting down the government over that issue is going to get an outcome,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said about the vaccine mandate on Fox News on Thursday. “It would only create chaos and uncertainty.”
He pointed to other ways the Biden administration could be forced to abandon its Occupational Safety and Health Administration vaccine mandate, including a Senate vote as early as next week overturning it.
Mr McConnell later answered a question by CNN about his confidence in averting a shutdown: “We're not going to do that.”
Some House Republicans, including Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, called on the party to shut down the government to prevent enforcement of the federal vaccine requirement.
“We’re not going to go for their anti-vaxxing,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. “If you think that’s how we’re going to keep government open, forget that.”
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RESULTS
Women:
55kg brown-black belt: Amal Amjahid (BEL) bt Amanda Monteiro (BRA) via choke
62kg brown-black belt: Bianca Basilio (BRA) bt Ffion Davies (GBR) via referee’s decision (0-0, 2-2 adv)
70kg brown-black belt: Ana Carolina Vieira (BRA) bt Jessica Swanson (USA), 9-0
90kg brown-black belt: Angelica Galvao (USA) bt Marta Szarecka (POL) 8-2
Men:
62kg black belt: Joao Miyao (BRA) bt Wan Ki-chae (KOR), 7-2
69kg black belt: Paulo Miyao (BRA) bt Gianni Grippo (USA), 2-2 (1-0 adv)
77kg black belt: Espen Mathiesen (NOR) bt Jake Mackenzie (CAN)
85kg black belt: Isaque Braz (BRA) bt Faisal Al Ketbi (UAE), 2-0
94kg black belt: Felipe Pena (BRA) bt Adam Wardzinski (POL), 4-0
110kg black belt final: Erberth Santos (BRA) bt Lucio Rodrigues (GBR) via rear naked choke
World Cup League Two
Results
Oman beat Nepal by 18 runs
Oman beat United States by six wickets
Nepal beat United States by 35 runs
Oman beat Nepal by eight wickets
Fixtures
Tuesday, Oman v United States
Wednesday, Nepal v United States
If you go...
Fly from Dubai or Abu Dhabi to Chiang Mai in Thailand, via Bangkok, before taking a five-hour bus ride across the Laos border to Huay Xai. The land border crossing at Huay Xai is a well-trodden route, meaning entry is swift, though travellers should be aware of visa requirements for both countries.
Flights from Dubai start at Dh4,000 return with Emirates, while Etihad flights from Abu Dhabi start at Dh2,000. Local buses can be booked in Chiang Mai from around Dh50
The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
HOW TO WATCH
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Kathryn Hawkes of House of Hawkes on being a good guest (because we’ve all had bad ones)
- Arrive with a thank you gift, or make sure you have one for your host by the time you leave.
- Offer to buy groceries, cook them a meal or take your hosts out for dinner.
- Help out around the house.
- Entertain yourself so that your hosts don’t feel that they constantly need to.
- Leave no trace of your stay – if you’ve borrowed a book, return it to where you found it.
- Offer to strip the bed before you go.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
