President Joe Biden is poised to avoid a disruptive shutdown of the federal government, but deal-making continues on his economic agenda before a planned vote today on an infrastructure package that underscores deep divisions among Democrats, Bloomberg News reported. The Senate will vote this morning -- the eve of the new fiscal year -- to extend government funding until Dec. 3, sending the package to the House and ultimately to Biden’s desk for signature with just hours to spare. Stripped of Republican-opposed language suspending the debt ceiling, the stopgap funding bill is expected to pass both chambers with bipartisan support. That will be the easiest item on Biden’s legislative to-do list. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer met with Biden at the White House yesterday. Pelosi afterward affirmed her plan to bring to the House floor today the $550 billion infrastructure bill that Biden negotiated earlier this year, which now has become a focal point of tension between the two wings of the party.
