A government shutdown has been averted again — for now — after a vote by the U.S. Senate.

West Virginia Senators Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican, and Joe Manchin, a Democrat, voted in favor of the continuing resolution.

“As I have said many times, it is our responsibility to fund the government and keep it open. That is a priority,” Capito said.

The bill extends funding at current spending levels for about 20 percent of the federal government until Jan. 19, and the remaining 80 percent until Feb. 2.

Funds would expire for military and veterans programs, agriculture and food agencies, and the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development on Jan. 19. They would expire for the State, Defense, Commerce, Labor, and Health and Human Services departments, among others, on Feb. 2.

Without legislation to continue funding, federal government operations would have shut down at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

“To fund the government for a full year, we need to focus on passing all of our bills through regular order, which we’ve already made some progress on earlier this month. Time is critical to accomplish this, however, and the continuing resolution that we passed tonight allows us to do that. While I am glad we took the responsible step tonight to keep the government open, our work is far from over,” Capito said.

The vote in the Senate on Wednesday evening was 87-11 with two not voting.

Manchin said Congress has to go beyond short-term spending plans.

“Funding the government is one of our most basic constitutional duties and we are once again kicking the can down the road just to face the same problems a few months from now. Every time we do this we create more economic uncertainty and further jeopardize our national security,” Manchin said.

“We have a lot of important work ahead of us, which includes strengthening our border security, supporting Ukraine in their fight against Putin’s unprovoked invasion, providing aid to Israel as they battle Hamas, and getting our country’s debt under control. We must come together to do our jobs, return to regular order, and find a bipartisan solution that puts us on a path to prosperity and fiscal stability. I stand ready to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass all appropriations bills that reflect the framework of the bipartisan Fiscal Responsibility Act and deliver for the American people.”

In the House of Representatives, the continuing resolution passed on a 336-95 vote earlier this week. More Democrats than Republicans voted for the spending resolution — 127 Republicans and 209 Democrats in the GOP-majority chamber.

West Virginia’s presentatives split on their votes on the short-term bill.

Congresswoman Carol Miller, a Republican who represents West Virginia’s southern counties, voted Tuesday evening in favor of the bill.

“The two-part Continuing Resolution will allocate time for Congress to discuss, debate, and come to a consensus on funding for federal agencies. Under Speaker Johnson’s leadership, House Republicans are putting the American people before politics,” Miller stated.

Congressman Alex Mooney, a Republican representing the state’s northern counties, voted against it.

Mooney, a candidate for Senate, has said during recent federal funding questions that he favors longer-term funding through individual allocations bills that cut overall funding significantly.

He said that remains true.

“This stopgap, we’re going to be in the exact same position. And guess what, we are in the exact same position,” Mooney said Wednesday on MetroNews’ “Talkline.”

“We still haven’t done our job and passed the 12-month spending bills. So that actually proves my point that we’re in the exact same position again. And now we kick the can down the road to January, February. And do you think we’re going to pass it all by then? Look, as long as you stopgap, we’re not doing the right thing and passing the full-year bills.”