A stop gap spending bill has passed through lawmakers, likely avoiding the government shutdown that was hinted at last week.

The bill will keep the government fully operational until early next year, averting a PR crisis for lawmakers and the President. Several government departments would have been impacted if a bill were not passed, including the Justice Department, Homeland Security, and National Parks.

House Vote Still Required to Confirm That Government Stays Open

While the Senate approved the bill on Wednesday, it will still need to pass through a vote in the House of Representatives. Washington insiders expect that there will be no major opposition to the spending bill, as neither side of congress will want the negative PR that would come from shutting parts of the government so close to the holiday. A shutdown would mean that departments run with skeleton staff, and some federal employees would lose income over December and early 2019.

If the bill passes through the House, it will provide funding up until February 8.

Senators, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, are confident that any rejection by vote will be minor and won’t affect the outcome.

Border Wall Spending Bill Fight Will Continue In 2019

With Senators voting in favor of a stopgap spending bill, Trump’s fight for border wall funding will have to wait until next year.

This puts the President in a difficult position where he may be forced to make concessions to receive funding support from Congress. The House of Representatives will be controlled by a Democratic majority next year, while the Senate will remain in the control of Republican members.

The split in the legislature will go both ways, as Democrats will need to be more accommodating if they wish their own policies to be passed through the Senate.

It is expected that President Trump will sign the bill without delay once it passes through the House. Senator John Cornyn said this week that “He’s [President Trump] not happy about having to do this, but he’d be especially unhappy if there were other things people were asking for.”

Kellyanne Conway, an advisor to the President, said this week that “to keep the government going until Feb. 8 is what they’re looking at now”, but did indicate that the President would not back down from his fight for border funding in the long term.