[ad_1]
The Senate approved a government funding package early Saturday morning, averting a partial shutdown and ending a long fight that has hung over both sides of the Capitol for months.
The legislation will next be sent to President Joe Biden to sign into law, which he is expected to do on Saturday.
The vote marks an important moment on Capitol Hill, ending an annual appropriations process that has dragged on much longer than usual, an effort that has been marked by partisan political disagreements and a historic change in House leadership after that the conservatives Ousted former president Kevin McCarthy in an unprecedented vote last year.
While final approval came after the midnight deadline, the Senate’s action effectively avoided any disruption in funding or government function, and the federal government is now funded through the end of the fiscal year.
The Senate vote comes after the end of a tumultuous day at the Capitol, highlighting how narrow the majorities are in both chambers and how high tensions are between lawmakers. Immediately after the House voted to pass legislation the Senate is considering, firebrand Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia filed a motion to remove Johnson from the presidency. While the resolution does not need to be addressed immediately, it represents the most formal and strident challenge to the president’s leadership since he took office late last year. The final house The vote was 286-134, with 112 Republicans and 22 Democrats voting against it.
Even though the House voted earlier on Friday, the Senate vote was delayed for hours amid negotiations over a deal to speed up passage in the chamber. Republicans had demanded votes on controversial amendments that put some vulnerable Senate Democrats in difficult political situations.
The funding bill addresses a number of critical government operations, including the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, State, and the legislative branch.
The legislators announced the $1.2 trillion government funding package just before 3 a.m. ET on Thursday, and the text is more than 1,000 pages long.
Schumer said Thursday that the text of the legislative package came “at the last minute,” with less than 48 hours left before the deadline for a partial government shutdown. The Democratic leader added: “Now Congress must race to pass this package before government funding runs out this Friday. Once the House acts, the Senate will need bipartisan cooperation to pass it before Friday’s deadline and avoid a shutdown,” referring to how any senator could delay passage of the bill and launch a partial shutdown.
After months of avoiding last-minute shutdowns with stopgap bills, Congress finally passed a package of six bills in early March to fund a number of government agencies for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Johnson, who won the gavel after McCarthy’s ouster, faces an extremely narrow majority and rejection from his right flank for his handling of the government funding fight. As the House begins a two-week recess on Friday, Greene’s resolution to unseat Johnson will hang over the GOP conference as he considers what to do next in the 118th Congress.
Johnson praised the bill early Thursday, highlighting the conservative victories in the package.
“This FY24 appropriations legislation is a serious commitment to strengthening our national defense by keeping the Pentagon focused on its core mission while expanding support for our brave men and women who serve in uniform,” he said. Johnson in a statement.
House members on both sides of the aisle on Thursday criticized the deal, with progressive and far-right members criticizing the legislation for different reasons.
Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas told CNN that he will not support any Republican who votes for the bill and that the leadership “owns the bill,” calling it a “failure.”
“I would find it very difficult to do that,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju. “The Republican conference will be a failure if they pass this bill.”
House progressives have also been critical, with some indicating they will vote against provisions that would withhold funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees for a year amid the alleged participation of UNRWA employees in the October 7 attack against Israel.
McCarthy’s fate has raised questions about whether Johnson could face a similar threat to his presidency, but many Republicans have made clear they do not want another run for the presidency after the intense infighting and chaos unleashed by McCarthy’s ouster.
The separate funding package of six bills, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden Earlier this month, it included funding for the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Veterans Affairs, Energy, Interior, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, as well as the Food and Drug Administration, military construction and other federal programs.
This story and headline have been updated to reflect additional developments.
CNN’s Manu Raju contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link