US Senate approves spending package, but short government shutdown likely

US gov’t funding impasse driven by Democratic anger over federal agents killing two people during immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.Published On 31 Jan 2026United States senators have approved a last-minute deal to avert the worst impacts of an imminent government shutdown, after Democratic anger over the killing of two people by immigration agents derailed government funding talks.After hours of delay, the US Senate passed the compromise spending package on Friday by a bipartisan vote of 71 to 29.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Iran says ready for ‘fair’ talks with US but not ‘under shadow of threats’list 2 of 4Is Trump’s choice for US Fed chair a ‘chameleon’ or a ‘solid’ pick?list 3 of 4Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,437list 4 of 4More than 200 killed in mine collapse in eastern DR Congo: Reportend of listBut a shutdown is still set to begin on Saturday because the House of Representatives is out of session until Monday, meaning it cannot ratify the Senate’s agreement before the midnight deadline on Friday – making a weekend funding lapse unavoidable.Senate leaders say the legislation approved on Friday will nonetheless greatly increase the chances that the shutdown ends quickly, potentially within days.“Technically, there will be a partial government shutdown come midnight on Saturday,” Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan said, reporting from Washington, DC.“The earliest that the House of Representatives can take a look at the changes, which the US Senate approved late on Friday, is not before Monday. That’s because they’ve been in recess all this week. They should be coming back to Washington this weekend,” Jordan said.“The assumption right now from the Trump administration, which was in support of this compromise bill passed in the Senate on Friday, is that this can all be worked out very quickly early next week,” she said.But there is also a concern the shutdown could drag out longer, given political polarisation around President Donald Trump’s administration’s harsh immigration raids and the killing of US citizens at those operations.