The Senate passed a $1.2 trillion federal spending bill early Saturday morning – but not before missing a midnight deadline which triggered a brief partial government shutdown.
The spending package easily cleared the upper chamber in a 74-24 vote.
It now heads to President Biden’s desk, who will sign the measure on Saturday.
Senators were deadlocked for hours on whether to vote on amendments to the massive bill, which cleared the House of Representatives on Friday.
With minutes to go before the deadline, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced that an agreement had been reached on a series of votes on amendments – all which failed to pass.
“It’s been a very long and difficult day, but we have just reached an agreement to complete the job of funding the government,” Schumer said from the Senate floor. “It is good for the country that we have reached this bipartisan deal. It wasn’t easy, but tonight our persistence has been worth it.”
The impact to government operations of the hours-long partial shutdown appeared to be limited.
“The most recent appropriations for the Department of Defense expired at 11:59p.m. EDT on March 22, 2024,” read a statement from the Pentagon, issued after the deadline was missed.
“Military personnel will continue in a normal duty status without pay until a continuing resolution or appropriations are passed by Congress and signed into law,” the statement continued. “Civilian personnel not engaged in excepted activities will be placed in a non-work, non-pay status.”
The White House, however, indicated that shutdown preparations “ceased” upon senators reaching an agreement to hold the overnight vote.
“[Office of Management and Budget] has ceased shutdown preparations because there is a high degree of confidence that Congress will imminently pass the relevant appropriations and the President will sign the bill on Saturday,” the White House said in a statement.
“Because obligations of federal funds are incurred and tracked on a daily basis, agencies will not shut down and may continue their normal operations.”
Federal offices are closed for the weekend and many government agencies are fully funded because of the previous so-called “minibus” legislation that Biden, 81, signed into law earlier this month.
The impasse over amendments threatened a more prolonged shutdown.
If amendments had been successfully added to the legislation it would’ve forced the measure back to the House for approval – but the lower chamber adjourned for a two-week recess Friday afternoon.
Despite this, some Republicans were eager to force votes on amendments related to border security, immigration, Iran sanctions and the Laken Riley Act.
GOP members were poised to hold Democrats responsible for the shutdown over their initial refusal to consider amendments.
“Senate Democrats are again threatening to shut the government down to avoid voting on border security amendments,” Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) wrote on X, before the midnight deadline. “The question to ask them: Would they rather shut down the government than shut down charter flights for illegal immigrants into American cities?”
The Tennessee Republican also suggested that vulnerable Senate Democrats up for re-election were “afraid” of having their amendment votes go on the record.
“Democrat Senators are afraid to take a position on Biden’s failed policies by voting on amendments to the appropriations bill,” Hagerty argued. “They’d rather shut down the government than take a position on President Biden’s failures.”
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) blamed Republican “gremlins” for the missed deadline.
“Well, it looks like we’re headed for a shutdown at the hands of Senate Republican gremlins who (1) know that amendments can’t pass because there’s no House to send an amended bill back to (they adjourned) and (2) want amendments anyway. And (3) can’t decide amongst themselves what won’t-pass amendments they want,” the Rhode Island Democrat tweeted.
“I sure hope I’m wrong. But the Republican Senate caucus is a rudderless ship right now, so the gremlins are running the show,” Whitehouse added.
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who’s up for re-election, indicated that he was not opposed to voting on amendments despite the political risk.
“There’s opportunities here to separate myself from some people,” Tester told reporters. “[Republicans are] the ones that killed the best immigration bill we’ve ever had on the floor of the Senate. The same Republicans … killed it. They better look in the mirror if they want to do something about immigration.”
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), however, told reporters that Tester was privately telling members that he didn’t want to vote on amendments.
“That’s bullshit,” Tester said of the accusation.
“It’s all politics. It’s just a – it’s a waste of time. It’s a waste of money. And I think it’s really irresponsible,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said of Republicans pushing amendments.
Further complicating the Senate proceedings was the Saturday funeral for the mother of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), which some senators wished to attend, according to NBC News.
Collins, elected to the Senate in 1996, has never missed a vote.
The spending bill addresses funding for the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, State and the legislative branch.
The lower chamber voted 286-134 to approve the 1,012-page bill, which funds those departments and entities until Sept. 30.
GOP proponents of the package pointed to a $200 billion cut in federal spending over the next 10 years — including a $6 billion clawback of unused COVID-19 relief funds.
Defense spending will see a $27 billion increase, including a 5.2% pay bump for US service members.
The package also includes $3.3 billion in continued funding for Israel and $300 million in Pentagon funding to aid Ukraine’s war effort.
House GOP leadership further celebrated cuts to funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency, a Palestinian refugee aid group that had employees participate in the Oct. 7 terror attack against Israel, as well as for federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
Democrats approved of having rejected “right-wing” add-ons.
“As far as I could tell, the overwhelming majority of right-wing policy riders have been rejected and are not part of the spending agreement, including in critical areas,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said at a Thursday press conference.
Congress passed an earlier six-bill, $467.5 billion “minibus” on March 8 which funded the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Transportation, Commerce, Justice and Housing and Urban Development, as well as the Food and Drug Administration and military construction.
The second component completes a topline $1.66 trillion spending agreement that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) reached in January, comprised of $886 billion in defense funding and $704 billion in non-defense discretionary funding.
