Congress gave final approval on Wednesday to a bill to fund federal agencies into early next year, averting an immediate shutdown crisis but leaving the path toward a longer-term agreement on government spending as rocky as ever.
The Senate voted 87 to 11 to clear the temporary funding patch and send it to President Biden, who is expected to sign it, just days before a deadline at midnight on Friday. The measure was approved by the House on Tuesday with near-unanimous support from Democrats and over the opposition of almost half of House Republicans.
While dodging a short-term disaster, Congress will have only a few months to reach a governmentwide spending agreement. And a Republican mutiny over the measure on the House floor on Wednesday reflected how difficult it will be for the G.O.P. leaders to come to terms with Democrats on a more lasting plan.
The bill, known as a continuing resolution, sets up two deadlines in early 2024, with money for some agencies running out on Jan. 19 and the rest on Feb. 2. It continues funding at current levels and contains no policy conditions — two aspects that pleased Democrats and enraged far-right Republicans who have demanded steep cuts and conservative policy requirements.
“This Friday night there will be no government shutdown,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader. “Because of bipartisan cooperation, we are keeping the government open without any poison pills or harmful cuts to vital programs — a great outcome for the American people.”
The tight timeline and the upcoming holidays leave lawmakers little breathing room to resolve the substantial differences between the two chambers and also among House Republicans. The internal G.O.P. rifts were on display yet again on Wednesday when rank-and-file Republicans blocked a separate spending bill from being considered.
Protesting Speaker Mike Johnson’s move a day earlier to rely on Democrats to push through the stopgap spending legislation, members of the House Freedom Caucus joined with Democrats to prevent legislation funding the Commerce and Justice Departments and science agencies from coming to the floor. The mutiny prompted leaders to adjourn the House abruptly and send lawmakers home for Thanksgiving.
It was the latest failure on spending bills under Mr. Johnson, and it reflected the ire of hard-line House Republicans that the temporary funding measure omitted their priorities.
“The swamp won, and the speaker needs to know that,” said Representative Chip Roy, Republican of Texas and one of the Republicans who voted Tuesday against the interim spending bill and blocked the funding measure on Wednesday.
Mr. Roy and 18 other Republicans were able to thwart consideration of the spending bill by breaking with their party to oppose the normally routine procedural measure to set rules for debate. The tactic was once considered unthinkable, but the hard right has resorted to it several times this year to defy its leaders.
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