Brett Samuels and the Hill
21 minutes ago
President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event in Philadelphia, Friday, March 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Senator)
President Biden on Friday signed a government spending bill to keep a range of federal departments operating as lawmakers shift their focus to the remaining spending bills.
Biden signed six $460 billion spending bills that passed the Senate early Friday. The package provides funding to the departments of military construction, water development, Veterans Affairs, agriculture, commerce, justice, energy, interior affairs, transportation, and housing and urban development.
The Senate passed the bill 75-22 Friday evening. Their approval caps weeks of tough bipartisan, bicameral funding negotiations that began to pick up steam in the new year.
Passage of what is being called a “minibus” also came after last-minute drama in the Senate, where a final vote threatened to push past the midnight funding deadline.
The bill passed the House 339-85, with 207 Democrats and 132 Republicans voting in support of the bill. This is in line with the spending cap agreement reached last year between former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (R-New York), and President Biden.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and Mr. Schumer set a spending cap at $1.65 trillion and set a $69 billion adjustment as part of a “side agreement” that would raise the federal debt ceiling in 2023. Reaffirmed the spending agreement, which includes dollars.
Senators will now work to pass the remaining six spending bills by the March 22 deadline, funding the Department of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and other priorities. Become.
Conservatives are trying to block the Pentagon from reimbursing travel expenses for military members who undergo abortions and to add a policy rider that would cut Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas' salary to zero following House Republican impeachment. and others view the second part of the funding bill as more difficult. Him last month.
