By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate moved on Thursday towards final passage of legislation that would fund the government until March 11. This was in an effort to avoid the embarrassment of a government shutdown due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Sen. Joe Biden was due to sign the bill into law on Friday, November 5, at midnight.

A government shutdown is useless and senseless. You can imagine what it would look like for the Russians. Just before the vote, Patrick Leahy, Chairman of Senate Appropriations Committee said this in a speech.

The bill was then approved by the Senate with overwhelming support.

The House of Representatives has already approved the third temporary measure. It would allow congressional Democrats and Republicans to come up with a compromise on a spending bill. This would ensure that Washington continues to function through September 30, which is the close of the fiscal year.

Washington is facing uncertainty about its finances, including for many military operations. This comes as Russia has roughly 150,000 troops on the border with Ukraine. It has stoked fears of an invasion and rattled financial markets.

House-Senate negotiations for a spending agreement would likely appropriate approximately $1.5 trillion in “discretionary funds” to fund a variety of government programs including those managed by the Pentagon, State Department, and other cabinet-level agencies.

If Congress fails to agree on a deal before March 11, Congress would have three choices: pass a bill that extends current funding at the Trump Administration’s approved levels for the rest of the fiscal year, approve a temporary funding bill so that negotiations can continue; allow funding to lapse; This would cause widespread furloughs for federal employees and close many programs they manage.

In December 2018, Congress was unable to finance the government for the first time since Democrats refused funding Trump’s U.S. – Mexico “border wall”, one of Trump’s top 2016 promises. Trump claimed that Mexico would fund the massive project during his campaign. The Mexican government rejected the idea and the U.S. taxpayers could be responsible for paying the construction costs.

After a 35-day-long impasse that was record breaking, Trump managed to find a way around Congress. However, the wall, as it is known, never got completed due to skepticism about its effectiveness.

Republicans insist that total spending should be evenly split between non-defense and defense programs this time. The Democrats, who hold a narrow majority in Congress, have requested slightly higher spending for non-defense programs.

However, even if the top-line figure is established there would be many differences over specific programs.