Congress Passes Spending Bill in Wee Hours to Fend Off Shutdown UPDATE
Last edited Sat Mar 23, 2024, 09:20 AM - Edit history (1)
Source: NYT
After hours of delay, the Senate overwhelmingly voted for the $1.2 trillion bill to fund more than half of the government, sending the measure to President Biden’s desk.
By Catie Edmondson
Published March 22, 2024 Updated March 23, 2024, 2:11 a.m. ET
The Senate overwhelmingly gave final approval early Saturday to a $1.2 trillion spending bill to fund more than half of the government, effectively averting a shutdown by sending the legislation to President Biden’s desk just hours after a midnight deadline.
The 74-to-24 vote, which concluded about 2 a.m., capped an extraordinary day on Capitol Hill that began with a big bipartisan vote to speed the measure through the House, which set off a conservative revolt and prompted one Republican to threaten a bid to oust Speaker Mike Johnson from his post.
The Senate action came more than 12 hours after the House vote, after intense haggling to arrange a series of politically charged votes on proposed changes to the legislation that Republicans had demanded that threatened to push the government into a brief partial shutdown into the weekend.
The White House said in a statement minutes after the midnight deadline that federal officials had “ceased shutdown preparations” in anticipation of Mr. Biden signing the legislation later Saturday. But the delay underscored the difficulties that have plagued spending negotiations from the beginning and was a fitting coda to an excruciating set of talks that are on track to finally fund the government through the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30, six months behind schedule.
“Democracy is messy,” Speaker Mike Johnson said on Thursday.Credit...Kent Nishimura for The New York Times
ORIGINAL story below.
https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/03/22/u-s-senate-debates-spending-package-overnight-as-funding-lapse-begins/
By: Jennifer Shutt - March 22, 2024 11:31 pm
WASHINGTON — Dozens of federal departments and agencies began a funding lapse early Saturday after the U.S. Senate failed to approve a $1.2 trillion government spending package ahead of a Friday midnight deadline.
The stalemate affected major federal departments — Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Labor, State and Treasury.
It also included numerous smaller entities that no longer have approved government funding, including Congress, the Executive Office of the President, the judiciary and the Social Security Administration.
The brief pause in official appropriations isn’t likely to have much effect, though, given that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer set up votes on nine GOP proposals to the package just before midnight.
The departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Labor, State and Treasury are included in a $1.2 trillion spending package under debate in the U.S. Senate. (Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/us/politics/congress-spending-bill-government-shutdown.html
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