House sends Senate bill to avert shutdown

The House approved a $1.2 trillion government funding bill on Friday, sending the massive budget bill to the Senate hours before the deadline, formally wrapping up the House’s fiscal year 2024 spending process.

The bill, which includes six funding bills, passed the House by a vote of 286-134, hours before numerous government agencies and programs were left without funding.

The Senate is expected to take up the bill quickly, hoping to get it across the finish line by midnight so lawmakers can avoid a funding shortfall and enter a two-week Easter recess. . President Biden has vowed to sign the bill.

The successful House vote ended the House’s fiscal year 2024 appropriations process, which dragged on for months with four short extensions and led to the first-ever overthrow of a sitting speaker. The connection sparked a fierce battle between hard-line conservatives and Republican leadership.

Prominent lawmakers have welcomed the conclusion of a lengthy process.

“I’m happy and relieved to finally be able to complete fiscal year 2024,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Connecticut), the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, on the floor.

The vote is also a victory of sorts for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana). He averted a government shutdown, passed the bill despite heavy criticism from conservatives, and avoided passing a huge omnibus spending bill at the end of the year. , conservatives hate it. But hardliners deride the two funding bills, known as the minibus, as a two-part omnibus.

But Johnson faces a problem.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who has emerged as one of Mr. Johnson’s chief critics, teased on Friday that she would file a motion to vacate Mr. Johnson; It was the same mechanism that led to the ouster of his predecessor, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — following his support for a multitrillion-dollar spending package.

“We’re going to be making decisions today minute by minute, so I want you to tune in and see what happens,” he said on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, adding that listeners should “stay tuned.” he added.

Johnson has consistently said he is not concerned about threats to the gavel.

Greene’s threat is emblematic of the frustration conservatives have expressed throughout the months of twists and turns in the spending process. They criticized the current package for its high price tag, inclusion of different spending priorities, exclusion of some controversial policy riders, and the process by which the bill was brought to the floor.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson waived the “72-hour rule” and instead gave MPs about a day and a half to read the text of the law. He then suspended a provision that would have removed the ability of conservatives to block the bill with a procedural vote and brought it to the floor, requiring a two-thirds majority to pass.

The 1,012-page bill calls for $1.2 trillion in funding for the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security (DHS), Labor, Health and Human Services, states, general government, financial services, and overseas operations.

Defense spending is expected to increase by more than 3%, in line with an agreement reached last year between President Biden and House Republican leaders to limit federal spending. Non-defense funds are almost flat compared to the previous year.

Lawmakers lamented having to vote on the massive funding measure so soon after it was launched at midnight the previous day, a common occurrence in Washington. However, members of both sides are already touting their own victories and a list of blows against the opposing team.

Republicans could cite investments in border security to focus more on enforcement, including funding for 22,000 Border Patrol agents, beefing up border security technology and funding 41,500 detention beds. claims.

The bills fall short of the deep cuts that House Republicans called for in last year’s partisan budget proposal, but the party also said the two sides had been haggling over parity between defense and non-defense funding increases. He also boasts that it is a departure from the past few years.

Programs expected to see more modest cuts in the package include the Federal Trade Commission, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Democrats, meanwhile, are rejoicing in fending off a series of so-called “poison pill” policies pushed by Republicans, including deep funding cuts and policies targeting abortion access and diversity initiatives.

The party is focused on increasing funding for early childhood education and health programs, including Head Start, the Child Care and Development Block Grant, and the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

The package would also increase funding for the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Health Resources and Services Administration.

But the bill has also received widespread criticism from both parties.

Conservatives criticize funding for areas such as FBI construction and some community projects supported by Democrats, while objecting to the overall funding levels of the policy.

Progressives in both chambers have also criticized concessions secured by Republicans that block funding to the main United Nations agency that provides relief to Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA.

“Are they considering the fact that children are starving to death in Gaza and UNRWA is underfunded that they can’t get the food and medical supplies they need?” Sen. Bernie Sanders Vermont, Vermont) told The Hill. “If it means winning, I don’t want to see him lose.”