On Saturday (November 11th) local time, the newly elected Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Johnson, announced a two-step interim funding bill to avoid a partial shutdown of the federal government next week due to the depletion of funds. The interim funding bill, led by former US House Speaker McCarthy and passed by Congress, is valid for 45 days and will expire next Friday (November 17th) local time. This means that the US Congress has less than a week to avoid a government shutdown.