Just hours before their current funding was supposed to expire, the U.S. Senate passed budget measures for numerous government agencies, narrowly avoiding a partial government shutdown on Friday.
Agriculture, transportation, housing, energy, veterans, and other programs will be funded through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30th, thanks to a $467.5 billion spending package that was adopted by a bipartisan vote of 75-22 in the Senate. Now it's on to Democratic President Joe Biden for the bill's signature.
At midnight, the funds allocated to various programs were set to expire. The decision settles some of the more contentious issues that have arisen during the months-long budget dispute, which briefly rendered the Republican-controlled House of Representatives without a leader for three weeks. In his remarks prior to the vote, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer reassured the public that the bipartisan package would prove that divided government does not result in inaction.
Earlier this week, the deal breezed through the House of Representatives, which is controlled by Republicans. Conservative Republicans in the Senate wanted votes on immigration and other issues, so anything may happen in the Senate at any moment. Nothing worked.
A somewhat broader set of budget bills addressing defense, homeland security, healthcare, and other services still needs to be negotiated by Congress. On March 22, the funding for those initiatives will run out. These two bundles would set you back $1.66 trillion when combined.
Republicans on the extreme right had advocated for steeper budget cutbacks in an effort to rein in the nation's $34.5 trillion debt. The original deadline for these bills was the beginning of the 2024 fiscal year on October 1st, when they were all due to become law.
Even though Congress generally manages to make that deadline, the discussion this year has been incredibly disorganized. In order to maintain agency operations at the same levels as last year, Congress has had to pass four short-term financing bills.
Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, has asked for $241.3 million in earmarks—local projects funded by individual lawmakers—in the spending legislation. Two days prior to the beginning of the fiscal year, on September 29, 2023, she passed away.
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