Government shutdown live updates: Senate approves short-term government funding bill

President Joe Biden has thrown his support for the funding bill that is being voted on by the House, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

The president "supports moving this legislation forward and ensuring that the vital services the government provides for hardworking Americans -- from issuing Social Security checks to processing benefits for veterans -- can continue as well as to grant assistance for communities that were impacted by devastating hurricanes," she said in a statement.

Jean-Pierre added that while the bill "does not include everything we sought," it does keep the government running, get aid to those still recovering from disasters earlier this year and " eliminates the accelerated pathway to a tax cut for billionaires."

She slammed President-elect Donald Trump for causing the last-minute scramble.

"Following an order by President-elect Trump, yesterday Republicans walked away from a bipartisan deal and threatened to shut down the government at the 11th hour in order to pave the way to provide tax breaks for billionaires. This revised legislation does not do that," she said.

The House of Representatives passed the two-thirds majority to pass the funding bill to avert a federal shutdown tonight. The bill, which funds the government until March, will head to the Senate.

Billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk posted a statement on X that he supports the current funding deal that is being voted on.

"The Speaker did a good job here, given the circumstances. It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces. Ball should now be in the Dem court," said Musk, who threatened GOP members two days ago.

Prior to the start of voting on the new funding bill, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries expressed approval of the removal of the debt limit provision.

"What needed to come out of the bill has come out of the bill, and now we've got to evaluate the four corners of what remains in the legislation," he said.

Pressed by ABC News' Jay O'Brien if that means Democrats should vote for it, Jeffries waffled.

"That's what we're going to discuss," the New York congressman said. "But the reckless effort to remove the ability for the American people to have a real discussion in terms of fiscal responsibility by trying to jam a debt ceiling suspension into the legislation at the eleventh hour was not sustainable."