US Senate passes $1.2tn spending plan, avoiding government shutdown
Washington, US – The US Senate overwhelmingly voted for a $1.2tn spending plan to fund the government early Saturday, avoiding a shutdown and sending the measure to President Joe Biden for his signature.
The 74-to-24 vote concluded about 2am, the New York Times reported, more than 12 hours after the House of Representatives voted 286-134, to advance the 1,012-page spending bill that covers an estimated 70% of discretionary government spending. It required a two-thirds majority and barely cleared that threshold amid strong GOP opposition.
The bill aims to fully fund the government through the end of September and is to be the final step in a drawn-out fight that has seen a government funding debate stretch almost six months into the fiscal year.
But it didn't clear the House before more than 112 Republicans, a slim majority of the GOP caucus, bucked House Speaker Mike Johnson's move to work with Democrats and voted no.
Amid the debate, according to Punchbowl news, Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene even filed a motion to vacate and remove Johnson from his position. In comments to reporters afterwards, she called the move "a warning" to Johnson.
The White House said shortly after midnight that shutdown preparations had ceased, in anticipation of the president signing the legislation later Saturday. Biden has already promised to sign the bill as soon as he can, with a formal statement of administration policy released Thursday urging swift passage.
"I imagine some folks here in the Capitol are past the point of exhaustion," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer noted Thursday on the Senate floor.
The tight deadlines are a result of last-minute delays over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the border.
After calls from some Republicans to use the budget process to "dismantle" Biden's border policies, the final product is notably less dramatic, but there are some changes at the border set to be implemented. There are new resources for the US Border Patrol as well as additional detention beds run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, among other provisions.
Other highlights of the massive bill include a cutting off of US government assistance to UNRWA, the main UN agency that provides assistance to Palestinians, amid accusations that a number of their employees participated in the October 7 attack in southern Israel.
The bill also lays out increases for Democratic priorities like federal child care and funding for cancer and Alzheimer's research.
Provision for other wings of the government — including the agriculture, commerce, and transportation departments — were already agreed to and enacted in another deal that passed earlier this month.
The bill aims to fully fund the US government through the end of September and is to be the final step in a drawn-out fight