A midnight partial government shutdown was averted by a vote in the Senate Friday night.
The Senate voted 75-22 to pass a package of six funding bills that will keep programs governed by them funded through the end of September.
The Capitol, March 8, 2024.
Andrew Caballero-reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
The bills now head to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law.
“Tonight, the Senate has reached an agreement avoiding a shutdown on the first six funding bills,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on X. “We will keep important programs funded for moms and kids, for veterans, for the environment, for housing, and so much more.”
All amendments to the bill that the Senate considered failed.
The Senate vote came hours before the midnight deadline to avert a partial shutdown.
The House easily passed the package of six government funding bills Wednesday afternoon, with a vote of 339-85.
House and Senate bipartisan leaders unveiled the six compromise funding bills jointly on Sunday, after many months of behind-the-scenes debate over how much these bills should cost, what policy provisions they ought to include, and what cuts could be made.
The $467.5 billion appropriations package provides funding for the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Energy, Interior, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development as well as the Food and Drug Administration, military construction and other federal programs.
Congress now has two weeks until the next funding deadline for the other six remaining funding bills.
Those bills, which lose funds on March 22, will likely prove much harder for Congress to pass. No deal has yet been struck on any compromise legislation, and, unlike some bills in the funding package that passed this week, none of the legislation in the next tranche of bills has been considered on the Senate floor.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
