President Joe Biden has signed H.R. 10545, a continuing resolution that keeps the government funded for the first months of the new year. President Biden signed the resolution Saturday morning, hours after the U.S. Senate voted 85 to 11 early Saturday morning to pass the funding bill

Despite missing the midnight deadline for President Biden's signature, the White House said the Office of Management and Budget ceased shutdown operations because it anticipated the "imminent" passing of the continuing resolution.

The bill passed in the House earlier on Friday by a largely bipartisan vote of 366-34, with Rep. Jasmine Crockett voting present. All Democrats in the House but Crockett voted to pass the bill. All nay votes were by Republican representatives.

"The bipartisan funding bill I just signed keeps the government open and delivers the urgently needed disaster relief that I requested for recovering communities as well as the funds needed to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge," President Biden said. "This agreement represents a compromise, which means neither side got everything it wanted. But it rejects the accelerated pathway to a tax cut for billionaires that Republicans sought, and it ensures the government can continue to operate at full capacity."

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The bill had been slightly altered from the one that failed on Thursday. The latest bill will not have a provision for a debt limit extension until January 30, 2027. That was a provision backed by President-elect Donald Trump.

Instead, the bill calls for the government to be funded through mid-March at current levels. It also provides millions of dollars for disaster relief to help communities impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, as well as farmers who have been impacted by droughts, wildfires and floods.

"We are excited about this outcome tonight," House Speaker Mike Johnson said after the vote. "We're grateful that everyone stood together to do the right thing. Having gotten this done now, as the last order of business for the year, we are set up for a big and important new start in January. We can't wait to get to that point. We encourage swift passage in the Senate now. They need to do their job as the House just did."

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For the second straight day, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is on Capitol Hill, trying to drum up support from senators for his nomination as head of the Department of Health and Human Services. His often-controversial views about vaccines, fluoride and raw milk have raised alarm in the scientific community and beyond.

Kennedy told Scripps News earlier that his meetings so far were going well, but he has declined to answer direct questions about certain policy positions, including on how his abortion views compare to President-elect Donald Trump's and on the polio vaccine.

On Tuesday, Kennedy met with Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican, who says he and Kennedy discussed issues of abortion.

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Kennedy's vaccine stances have been a major issue since his nomination. A lawyer for Kennedy filed requests in 2022 to have the Food and Drug Administration remove approval for the polio vaccine, claiming it "does not prevent intestinal infection and therefore does not prevent poliovirus transmission."

In early 2023, Peter Marks, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, responded to Siri's petition by saying the FDA had "been unable to reach a decision on your petition because it raises issues requiring further review and analysis by agency officials." Marks added that Siri would be informed as soon as the FDA made a decision on the petition.

Kennedy's confirmation hearings are expected to begin in the new year. Republican Senators will have a narrow margin in the chamber that may mean Kennedy will not need Democratic support to be confirmed.

Addressing the government funding timeline

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-LA, told Scripps News Tuesday that lawmakers have finalized text for a short-term bill to keep the government open, which is now being scrutinized before it's crafted into formal legislation.

The bill includes, among other priorities, more than $100 billion in funding to respond to natural disasters that affected the U.S. this year, like Hurricanes Milton and Helene.

Some Republicans have criticized the process, saying there's too much packed into the bill, which will fund the government through March 14th if it passes.

"We can't have just rhetoric," Rep. Rich McCormick, R-GA, told Scripps News. "We have to have something that's proactive instead of reactive. We keep on backing ourselves into a corner with a timeline, and then we have to, in order to get it passed, add more instead of cut. That's not the way we're going to tackle this."

It's also possible that final passage will still go down to the wire. House Republicans agreed they would give their members 72 hours to review legislation before it gets a vote on the House floor. That means the party may not be ready to start voting on budget legislation, which will then also need Senate approval, until Friday evening.

As lawmakers on Capitol Hill are racing to avoid a government shutdown next week, President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet nominees continue to make their case to Senators who could service hurdles to confirmation.

Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania on Thursday became the first Democrat to meet with Pete Hegseth, Trump's pick for secretary of defense. But it remains unclear how that meeting went, as Fetterman declined to share whether he would support Hegseth for the position.

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"We had a conversation and that's part of the process," Fetterman told Scripps News. "And that's the thing, I'm going to follow the process and I'm going to listen to what my colleagues on the other side continue to say and how they evaluate."

For a while it appeared that Hegseth's nomination was unstable. But in the past couple of days it seems like he may have rebounded.

Hegseth has also met with a number of other senators who could be pivotal in his confirmation, including Sen. Susan Collins of Maine a key moderate Republican in the chamber and GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Both women came out of meetings with Hegseth saying they were good conversations, but refused to say whether they would support him.

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Hegseth's past was thrust into the spotlight following news of his nomination to lead the Department of Defense. He has been accused of sexual misconduct and mismanagement of funds while leading a veterans' charitable organization. Questions also still remain about alcohol and drinking issues that Hegseth reportedly had while working at Fox News.

Republicans have a large enough majority in the next Congress to not need Democratic votes to confirm any of Trump's cabinet nominations but that majority is still slim enough that the party can sustain only a few defections.

Nominees for Trump's administration continue to make their rounds on Capitol Hill, where they've been holding meetings and courting favor for days.

Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to direct the FBI, was in meetings with lawmakers the same day that current Director Chris Wray announced he would resign at the end of President Biden's term.

Patel met with Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, on Wednesday. Before the meeting, he told reporters he was ready to begin work immediately if he's confirmed.

Wray's departure may make Patel's path to confirmation easier.

And some Republican Senators have told Scripps News they see no reason their colleagues would object to Patel's nomination during confirmation hearings.

"I think this is a great development," Sen. Josh Hawley, R-MO, told reporters. "I think this is long overdue and much needed. I look forward to confirming his successor."

"I don't know what the opposition to Kash Patel really is," Hawley said. "I understand he is a conservative, and I understand my liberal colleagues don't like that. But a conservative just won the election."

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Meanwhile, Pete Hegseth, Trump's nominee for secretary of defense, continues to meet with lawmakers. There is not as much discussion of potentially replacing Hegseth as the nominee as there was last week.

Sen. Susan Collins told reporters on Wednesday that she had asked Hegseth numerous questions about allegations of sexual assault.

His comments on Wednesday also suggested his stance on women serving in the military has shifted.

Before he was nominated to be secretary of defense, Hegseth made comments on the Shawn Ryan Show Podcast that women do not belong in combat roles.

Im straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasnt made us more effective. Hasnt made us more lethal. Has made fighting more complicated, he said at the time.

On Wednesday, Hegseth told reporters "I look forward to being a leader for every single member of this Pentagon, men and women."

Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth told Scripps News Tuesday that he appreciate[s] the opportunity to meet with Senators but declined to answer multiple questions about the sexual misconduct allegations facing him.

According to a detailed investigative report made public in November, A woman told police that she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Pete Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave. Hegseth told police the incident was consensual.

The incident is one of several that could introduce scandal to Hegseth's confirmation hearing. Last week the New York Times published a letter to Hegseth from his mother Penelope, in which she accused him of being a longtime and repeated abuser of women.

RELATED STORY | Mother of Pete Hegseth reportedly told son he was an 'abuser of women' in email

When contacted by The New York Times, Penelope Hegseth did not deny sending the email but reportedly explained that she wrote it in anger while her son was going through a divorce. She also stated that she later sent her son another email apologizing for her comments, adding, I know my son. He is a good father and husband.

The allegations are concerning not just for Democrats but also for some Republicans on the Hill, who have indicated to Scripps News they still want to hear answers from Hegseth directly and through the FBI background check process that cabinet nominees will undergo.

Earlier Tuesday, Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) told Scripps News she met with Hegseth earlier this week, but hoped to meet with him again, and ask about some of the most recent allegations made against him. Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told Republican senators he plans to begin confirming Donald Trump's cabinet on Inauguration Day, January 20th, 2025.

A House Democrat is now moving forward with plans to try and compel its ethics committee to release the report on attorney general nominee and former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Rep. Sean Casten from Illinois is expected to bring a motion on the House floor Wednesday to compel the House Ethics Committee to release the report. The effort would require bipartisan support.

The move comes after the House Ethics Committee Wednesday tried to vote on whether to release the report. The committee, which is made up equally of Democratic and Republican lawmakers, deadlocked.

"This committee is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans," said Rep. Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, ranking member of the committee. "In order to affirmatively move something forward, somebody has to cross party lines and vote with the other side which happens a lot, by the way. And we often vote unanimously. That did not happen in today's vote."

"There was no consensus on this issue. We did agree that we would reconvene as a committee on December 5th to further consider this matter," she said.

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Gaetz resigned just two days before the committee was originally scheduled to potentially release the findings of investigation.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has since said he believes the committee should not release the report since it deals with a now former member of the chamber.

In the meantime, Congressional Republicans have hinted that confirming Gaetz as attorney general may be difficult.

Gaetz was on Capitol Hill with Vice President-elect JD Vance Wednesday to set up meetings with lawmakers as they work to shore up support for his nomination.

Confirmation hearings are not expected to begin in earnest until January.