No shutdown for now: Where Congress goes from here
After being mired in a weeks-long spending battle that seemed inexorably headed for a government shutdown, Congress moved at the 11th hour to pass a 45-day reprieve – demonstrating that a bipartisan majority can still command the power to push back against noisy obstructionists.
Embattled GOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy stunned his detractors Saturday by passing the short-term funding measure with votes from a majority of House Republicans, along with nearly all Democrats. The measure includes $16 billion in disaster aid, though not border security provisions or Ukraine aid. That caused Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet – the son of a Polish Jew born just before World War II –
