Congress passes stopgap spending measure to dodge Friday shutdown threat

The Senate has approved a short-term spending bill to keep the government funded until early March. The House is set to vote on the measure later today. (Catie Dull/NPR)

The House and the Senate have both approved a stopgap spending bill to fund the government through early March. The bill now heads to President Biden's desk for a signature.

With some federal agencies, including those that oversee agriculture, transportation and veterans' services, set to run out of funding Friday night at midnight and a winter storm toward the nation's capitol, lawmakers were under pressure to finish their work and leave town. The new spending measure maintains a two-tier structure where some agencies would run out of money on March 1 and others would remain funded through March 8.