The U.S. Senate passed a stopgap funding bill Thursday night and sent it to the desk of President Joe Biden for signing, narrowly averting another potential government shutdown that would have occurred at midnight on March 1.
The bill cleared the Senate in a 77–13 vote on Thursday night after four Republican amendments were defeated on the floor.
Earlier, the U.S. House of Representatives passed what was the fourth stopgap spending bill for the 2024 fiscal year in a 320–99 vote.
The bill came after a brief but contentious debate in the lower chamber that once again showcased the divide between moderate and more conservative factions within the Republican conference. Ninety-seven Republicans voted against the measure.
H.R. 7463 Extension of Continuing Appropriations and Other Matters Act, 2024, represents an agreement between congressional leaders and the White House over federal spending for this year, which has been hotly debated since last spring.
Terms of Agreement
The deal was announced in a joint statement issued by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and leaders of the appropriations committees of both the House and Senate.
“We are in agreement that Congress must work in a bipartisan manner to fund our government,” the Feb. 28 statement began. The agreement sets the parameters for bills funding the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration; Commerce, Justice and Science; Energy and Water Development; Interior; Military Construction and the Veterans Administration; and Transportation and Housing and Urban Development.
GOP Division
Arguing in favor of the bill, Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), chair of the Appropriations Committee, and others pointed to the responsibility of Congress to provide funding for the government and to the futility of using government shutdowns for leverage.“Given the differences between this year’s House and Senate bills, we knew finding common ground would not be easy, but we’ve made progress. And we need a few more weeks to finish drafting the bills. ... In the meantime, we can’t afford a harmful government shutdown,” Ms. Granger said.
“Government shutdowns—and I have lived through three—never work,” Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) said. “They cause more harm than they do good.”
Arguing against the bill, members noted that it merely extends the spending priorities of the Biden administration. They urged members to use the leverage afforded by a possible shutdown to press for border security measures and reduced spending.
“We’re going to continue funding this government at Nancy Pelosi’s omnibus spending level,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said. “That is a level that will continue. ... to fund all of the priorities we oppose.”
Referring to President Joe Biden’s perceived inaction on the southern border, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) said: “What is the Legislative Branch’s remedy to an executive branch that refuses to follow the law? It is to remove spending.”
Ms. Granger and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, led the debate in favor of the bill while Mr. Roy led the opposition, a fact noted by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).
“Why are there three members of Congress controlling time on the floor? I thought there were only two parties. Nope. When it comes to spending, there’s the Uniparty,” Mr. Massie said.
How We Got Here
The Fiscal Responsibility Act was negotiated by then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican who represented California, and President Biden. Fiscal hawks objected to the bill because it went beyond the limits approved by House Republicans in the Limit, Save, Grow Act in April of 2023.The agreement calls for the remaining spending bills to be passed by March 22. Those bills cover spending for the Department of Defense; Financial Services and Government Administration; Legislative Branch; and State and Foreign Operations.
The bill extends fiscal year 2023 spending levels, which expired on Sept. 30, to cover this roughly three-week period.
Mr. McCarthy was ousted from his role as speaker in part because of his engineering of the passage of a 45-day continuing spending resolution (CR) on Sept. 30, 2023. Mr. Johnson presided over the passage of a “laddered” CR in October 2023, with staged expiration dates on Jan. 19 and Feb. 2.
‘Domestic Spying’
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) reacted to the proposed deal on social media, criticizing its temporary reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act.Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) repeated a call to pass a full-year CR that would include automatic spending cuts as an alternative to the deal proposed by congressional leaders.
The four top congressional leaders—Mr. Johnson, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Jeffries, and Mr. McConnell—met with President Biden on Feb. 27 to discuss the nation’s budget. Mr. Schumer later described the meeting as tense but productive.
Border Crisis
Mr. Johnson emerged from the conference calling it “frank and honest.” He added that he had reiterated the position of House Republicans that the United States’ needs must come before continued spending on Ukraine, pointing to the immigration crisis at the southern border. Mr. Johnson also said he was “very optimistic” about preventing a government shutdown.Mr. Johnson defended the deal in a news conference ahead of the scheduled vote by saying it was both necessary and a positive step in reforming the federal budgeting process.
“Our first responsibility is to fund the government,” he said, adding that to secure the border is Congress’s second task.
Mr. Johnson said this year’s budgeting effort represents progress over the opaque process that has become routine in Washington.
“We’ve instituted some new innovations. We broke the omnibus fever,” he said, referring to Congress’s penchant for passing large, catchall spending bills just as funding is set to expire.
The speaker insisted that members have had more say in the budgeting process this year as bills worked their way through committees, and would have 72 hours to review the final text of the remaining spending bills before voting.
