The Senate failed to pass a $1.2 trillion package of spending bills Friday night, leading to a partial government shutdown starting at 12:01 a.m. this Saturday, but no It is expected to last many hours.
Republicans and Democrats were at odds over voting on proposed amendments in exchange for expediting a final budget vote.
But later, Senate leaders announced that they already have an agreement to approve the bill in the next few hours.
Republicans said Friday night that they had proposed several amendments on border security and other issues, but that Democrats had rejected those votes during hours of debate.
Any amendments added to the bill would send the legislation back to the House of Representatives, which has already left Washington, DC for a two-week recess.
“Right now, it doesn't look good,” Republican Senator Mike Rounds had declared hours earlier after leaving the conversations on the Senate floor.
But moments later,
The impact of a short-term funding disruption is
likely minimal
, with federal offices closed over the weekend and many government services funded through previous legislation.
However, the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies that would be affected by the interruption of funding could suffer different consequences, especially if disagreements drag into Monday.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, Democratic Senate Majority Leader, speaks at the Capitol on March 20, 2024. Associated Press
The White House Office of Management and Budget typically sends guidance to agencies ahead of any potential disruption to the flow of money.
While Congress
has already approved funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Interior, Agriculture and other agencies
, the bill in question being debated Friday is much larger, because it provides funding for the Department of State, Defense and Homeland Security. and other federal government agencies.
[Representative Mike Gallagher will resign in April, putting the narrow Republican majority in the House in suspense]
The House of Representatives had already approved the package of spending bills on Friday, a highly anticipated measure almost six months before the start of the fiscal year, which would postpone any threat of a government shutdown until the fall.
The Lower House approved the bill by 286 votes in favor and 134 against, narrowly obtaining the two-thirds majority necessary for its approval.
More than 70% of that money will be allocated to defense.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, at the Capitol on March 20, 2024. Associated Press
The vote in that legislative body reflected the anger of Republicans over the content of the package and the speed with which it was put to a vote.
The leader of the Lower House, Mike Johnson, brought the measure to the floor despite the fact that the majority of Republicans ended up voting against it.
He later stated that the bill “represents the best result achievable in a divided government.”
In a sign of conservative frustration, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.,
introduced a proposal to impeach Johnson
just as the House began voting but take other steps until the House returns in two weeks.
The measure is the same tool that was used last year to oust the previous leader, Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
The breakdown of the vote showed 101 Republicans in favor of the bill and 112 against.
For their part, 185 Democrats voted in favor and 22 against.
Rep. Kay Granger, the Republican chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, who helped draft the package, resigned from her position after the vote.
She stated that she would remain on the committee to advise and serve as an advisor to her colleagues when necessary.
Johnson split this fiscal year's spending bills into two parts, as House Republicans rebelled against what has become an annual practice of asking them to bring a massive, complex bill to a vote with little time to be reviewed or face closure.
Still, the package was clearly unpopular with most Republicans, who saw it as containing too few of their policy priorities and representing a huge waste of money.
“The bottom line is this is a complete and utter surrender,” said Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo.
It has taken lawmakers six months of the current fiscal year to approach the government funding finish line, a process slowed by conservatives, who have pushed for more political mandates and deeper spending cuts than they would consider. a Democratic-led Senate or White House.
The impasse necessitated several short-term bills to maintain funding for the agencies.
The first package of full-year spending bills, funding the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture and the Interior, among others, was approved by Congress two weeks ago, with just hours left before funding for the those departments.
If the two packages are combined, discretionary spending for the fiscal year will amount to about $1.66 trillion.
This figure does not include programs such as Social Security and Medicare, nor financing the country's growing debt.
To win support from Republicans, Johnson touted some of the spending increases secured in the proposal to fund some
8,000 beds in immigration detention centers
awaiting resolution of their immigration cases or removal from the country.
This represents an increase of 24% compared to current levels.
Additionally, Republican leaders stressed that there was more money to hire about 2,000 Border Patrol agents.
Democrats, for their part, boast of a $1 billion increase for Head Start programs and new child care centers for military families.
They also highlighted a $120 million increase in funding for cancer research and a $100 million increase for Alzheimer's research.
“Make no mistake, we've had to work with very difficult numbers and fight literally hundreds of House Republican poison pills, not to mention some unthinkable cuts,” said Sen. Patty Murray, Democratic chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee. Senate.
“But at the end of the day this is a bill that will keep our country and our families moving forward.”
Sen. Susan Collins, the top Republican on that committee, appealed to her GOP colleagues by claiming that the bill's spending on non-defense programs actually declines even before inflation is taken into account.
She called the package “conservative” and “carefully drafted.”
“These bills
are not big spending projects
,” he said.
Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told lawmakers that last year's deal, which became the Fiscal Responsibility Act, will save the federal government about $1 trillion next year. decade.
With information from
The Associated Press