On September 30, 2021, President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan bill to avoid a partial government shutdown just hours before its deadline at midnight. 

The bill  follows the U.S. Congress’s passage of a stopgap funding bill and prevents a stoppage of paychecks for federal employees and funds federal agencies through Dec. 3, 2021.  The bill would keep the U.S. government financially afloat for an additional two months.

For months, the Biden Administration has placed a focus on tackling domestic issues, specifically through legislative bipartisanship in the 50-50 split-seat Senate. 

Two moderate Democratic senators, Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) wield major influence in the U.S. Senate. Without the support of either senator, Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives and Senate may encounter difficulties in passing bipartisan legislation.

The government shutdown created another political storm swirling around Washington. Political infighting continues to rage behind closed doors between progressive and moderate Democrats over the price tags of President Biden’s domestic agenda plans. 

Two major pieces of legislation in this agenda plan may create widespread impacts on America’s infrastructure and economy: first, a trillion dollar bipartisan infrastructure bill that fell behind a Democrat-imposed vote deadline by midnight Thursday in the House. The other is a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill, which sets America’s budget for the next ten years. This bill would come on the heels of the passage of the one trillion dollar package. 

However, progressives and moderates struggle to find common ground on the $3.5 trillion dollar budget reconciliation bill’s price tag and features. Moderate Democrats perceive human infrastructure like expansions to education and healthcare as nontraditional infrastructure. The definition of infrastructure itself is a huge topic for debate within the Democratic Party. Democratic progressives in the House vowed to block the trillion dollar bill unless a compromise can be found on the larger $3.5 trillion budget bill.

Closed door discussions between Democrats continue, as President Biden’s signature domestic agenda rests on the fate of the two largest infrastructure deals since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal in 1933.