WASHINGTON (CN) — Lawmakers again juked a partial government shutdown Friday, as the Senate voted to pass a minibus budget bill that will keep several major federal programs funded into the fall.
Congress has for months flirted with financial catastrophe, as partisan squabbling held up efforts to approve a government budget for the 2024 fiscal year. Lawmakers have relied on short-term spending patches to keep the lights on, a strategy they’ve been forced to use thanks in part to Republicans who have demanded massive budget cuts and the rejection of so-called omnibus spending bills — legislation that packages disparate government funding provisions into one massive document.
Budget negotiators only last week sidestepped a shutdown, coalescing around a stopgap bill that extended government funding in two parts. The first tranche of spending, which included money for federal agriculture and energy programs as well as veterans’ affairs, was set to expire Friday night. Congressional leadership framed the budget patch as a final effort to buy time to hammer out a full-year spending plan.
That plan reached fruition Friday, if only by a hair, as the Senate passed a six-bill spending package known as a minibus on a 75-22 vote. The House approved its version of the full-year budget on a 339-85 vote Thursday evening.
Once signed by President Biden, the measure will greenlight federal funding for agriculture, energy, housing and veterans’ affairs programs through September — roughly six months.
Although the upper chamber managed to push through the long-term spending bill, things were looking dicey Friday as Republicans held up procedure, complaining that Democrats had refused to consider proposed amendments to the budget legislation. Speculation swirled throughout the afternoon that the Senate would have to reconvene Saturday morning to vote on the minibus, forcing only a brief government shutdown.
However, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took to the chamber floor Friday evening to announce a deal had been struck, and that lawmakers would consider some Republican amendments.
“Because both sides cooperated today, we’ve taken a major step toward our goal of fully funding the government,” Schumer said. “To folks that worry that a divided government means nothing ever gets done, this bipartisan package says otherwise.”
Senators voted down a series of amendments, including one from Utah Senator Mike Lee that would have barred Justice Department funding for federal cases involving political candidates, a change the lawmaker said was related to indictments against former President Donald Trump.
The chamber also voted down amendments offered by Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt, Florida Senator Rick Scott and Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty.
With Friday’s shutdown deadline out of the way, lawmakers now turn to the second set of federal spending currently suspended in a separate stopgap measure, which is slated to expire March 22. Schumer appeared optimistic that the Senate would be able to reach a second compromise, arguing that lawmakers now have “space and momentum” to negotiate on a second minibus.
If Congress manages to pass both full-year spending bills, it will put to bed months of uncertainty about the federal budget, which has since the summer been held aloft by a cascade of short-term spending legislation.
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