Biden Signs American Relief Act, 2025: Shutdown Averted, Funding Extended to March 14
President Joe Biden signed H.R. 10545, the American Relief Act, 2025, into law in Washington on December 21, making it Public Law 118-158. Federal funding that had been set to expire that night was extended, averting a government shutdown just before Christmas.
The act provides fiscal year 2025 appropriations to federal agencies through March 14, 2025, keeping existing government projects and activities running. It also provides about $100 billion in disaster relief and economic assistance to farmers, extends the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, and funds the rebuilding of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland. It does not include the debt limit provision that President-elect Donald Trump had demanded.
The bill cleared Congress at the last moment: the House passed it 366 to 34 on the evening of December 20, and the Senate approved it 85 to 11 shortly after midnight before sending it to the White House. An earlier bipartisan plan had collapsed after Trump urged Republican lawmakers to abandon it and to add a debt ceiling suspension, a demand the final version did not adopt.
In his signing statement, Biden said the bipartisan funding bill he had just signed keeps the government open and delivers the urgently needed disaster relief he had requested for recovering communities, as well as the funds needed to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge. He said the agreement represents a compromise, meaning neither side got everything it wanted, but that it rejects the accelerated pathway to a tax cut for billionaires that Republicans sought and ensures the government can continue to operate at full capacity, which he called good news for the American people, especially as families gather to celebrate the holiday season.
Source: The White House
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于华盛顿的美国国会大厦东侧。Senate Democrats 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The east front of the United States Capitol in Washington. Photo by Senate Democrats, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
