The US Congress green-lit temporary funding Thursday to thwart a partial government shutdown that threatened the functions of multiple key federal agencies and could have seen thousands of employees sent home without pay. With large sections of the government due to close at the end of Friday, the House of Representatives voted to keep the lights for at least another six weeks, approving a measure that had advanced earlier from the Senate. The last-ditch "continuing resolution" was pitched by leaders in the upper chamber as public workers were preparing to be sent home unpaid, upending government functions from military operations to food aid to federal policymaking. Complicating the negotiations, forecasts for a brutal winter storm curtailed the lawmakers' work, with Congress announcing that it would be closed for business all day Friday. "We have good news for America: There will not be a shutdown on Friday," Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer said in a speech to colleagues.

"Because both sides have worked together, the government will stay open. Services will not be disrupted. We will avoid a needless disaster." The short-term fix was pitched after negotiations on a full-year budget were stalled by the demands of House Republicans for deep spending cuts and sweeping immigration reforms that are dead on arrival in the more moderate Senate. Under the agreement, services and administration related to agriculture, energy and water, military construction and veterans' programs, transport and housing -- all due to grind to a halt at the weekend -- will be funded until March 1. The military, Justice Department, border security, Congress and many other federal agencies and departments were due to run out of money at the start of February but will now be able to function until March 8. That will give lawmakers more time to set the full-year budget in line with spending limits that Democrats and Republicans agreed to last year.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)