US Congress leaders reach deal to avoid partial government shutdown

House and Senate leaders on Feb. 28 reached a bipartisan deal to avert a partial government shutdown ahead of a Friday deadline. Under terms of the deal, the House is expected to vote on Feb. 29 on a temporary funding bill. The Senate will vote soon after.

According to Reuters, the pact approved by House of Representatives and Senate leaders would pave the way for votes on a stopgap funding bill to keep the government operating normally through newly-set March 8 and March 22 deadlines, giving lawmakers time to examine and debate the full-year funding bills.

Both Republican and Democratic party leaders will now work on explaining the deal to their rank-and-file with the goal of convincing enough of them to back the arrangement.

The deal would put six of the 12 funding bills on a path to passage by March 8 with the remainder by March 22.