The Senate passed a controversial six-bill government funding package on Friday after a brief government shutdown.
The bill language was only released early Thursday morning and infuriated several Senate Republicans.
The spending bill was debated in the House of Representatives on Friday morning and ultimately passed by a vote of 286-134, with a majority of 112 Republicans voting against it.
Senators voted in favor of passing a package of funding bills to complete the 2024 spending process and avoid a government shutdown. (Reuters/Amanda Andrade Rose)
Before the Senate approved the package, Republican senators had said they were not willing to vote on amendments requested by Democrats, and prospects for avoiding a partial government shutdown appeared bleak.
It wasn’t until the final hour that senators appeared to reach an agreement, returning to the floor to exchange documents before starting the voting process.
House passes $1.2 trillion government spending bill to avoid government shutdown
The $460 billion funding package included six of the 12 spending bills in both chambers earlier this month, despite vocal opposition from Republicans over the amount spent, how the funds would be used and alleged procedural violations. It was approved.
The two-pronged spending process was outlined in last month’s continuing resolution (CR), which specified a March 8 deadline for the first half of the spending bill and a March 22 deadline for the second half. This stopgap measure is the fourth of its kind since the original spending deadline of September 30, 2023.
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Several Republican senators criticized the last-minute release of the bill’s text on Thursday, as well as plans to vote on it on Friday and giving them only one day to read the 1,012-page bill.
The $1.2 trillion spending package passed both houses of Congress on Friday. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) told Fox News Digital that this is a “totally absurd, insulting and lawless suggestion that this is proper legislative process.”
Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida added, “This is an insane way to run a country.”
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With Senate passage, the spending package will now head to President Biden’s desk for his signature.
Mr. Lee and Mr. Scott criticized the procedure for passing the spending bill in such a short period of time. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)
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After several stopgap bills to push back the deadline for spending bills, the government will be fully funded through September 30, 2024, the deadline for fiscal year 2025 spending bills.
It’s unclear whether Congress can avoid the same funding disagreements it faced in fiscal year 2024 spending negotiations, as the divisions between the parties remain narrow. Some Republicans say the lengthy spending process is already starting to hurt discussions about next year’s spending.
