US likely averts major government shutdown by splitting bill, but partial closure looms

The US is poised to avoid a major shutdown after senators agreed on Friday to separate a controversial bill funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from a package that also includes funding for the State Department and the Pentagon.

The House, which is out of session this week, will still need to approve the package before it can be signed into law, meaning that there will be at least a brief funding lapse after current funding expires on Friday.

But the chamber is expected to move on the legislation quickly early next week, minimising the effects of the lapse.

A more prolonged shutdown of several major federal agencies had seemed likely in recent days before US President Donald Trump and Senate Democrats struck a deal on Thursday that involved a two-week stopgap measure for DHS.

A fuller government cessation again seemed to be on the table when Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, delayed a vote to advance the package on Thursday, a day before the January 30 deadline.

Days earlier, Democrats in the chamber came out against the funding package that would also fund the departments of Treasury, Labour, Health and Human Services and Transportation, among other federal agencies.

South China Morning Post