Congress muscled through another short-term spending bill on Thursday to avoid a partial government shutdown as negotiators say they've reached an agreement to fund several agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Senate voted 77 to 13 on a deal that would fund the USDA and five other agencies through March 8, averting a partial shutdown that would have begun on the end of the day Friday. House and Senate leaders said in a joint statement that negotiators have come to a spending agreement that will be "voted on and enacted" before the new deadline.
Lawmakers also agreed to fund the remaining six agencies, which include the Defense and Labor Departments, through March 22. Negotiators are still hammering out a final agreement, according to the joint statement.
The stopgap spending bills will go to President Joe Biden's desk, who is expected to sign.
Funding for the USDA has been held up in part over a disagreement around the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, which provides food assistance to an estimated 6.7 million mothers, babies and young children. The program faces a $1 billion shortfall that could force states to turn away new applicants or even halt existing services.
The latest stopgap funding bill only prolongs "uncertainty about the stability of the program," Georgia Machell, interim president and CEO of the National WIC Association, said in a statement.
"The longer these unnecessary funding battles persist, the harder it is for WIC staff and the families they serve to plan for their futures — and the closer we get to WIC being forced to turn people away," she said.
