Senate PASSES $1.2 trillion spending bill – after missing midnight deadline, with vote continuing into early hours

The Senate has passed a $1.2 trillion spending package to fund the government after a brief overnight shutdown.

The legislation passed by a 74-24 vote in the early hours of Sunday morning when lawmakers missed a deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown.

Senators did not enter the chamber to begin voting on spending amendments until shortly before midnight. But the shutdown only lasted a few hours and had little impact. The bill must be signed by President Biden.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced an agreement on the Senate floor minutes before midnight, saying: ‘It’s been a very long and difficult day, but we just reached an agreement to complete the job of funding the government.’

The 1,000-page measure raises funds for six of the 12 appropriations bills that must be passed annually. It packs nearly 75 percent of the government’s annual funding into just one vote, called a minibus.

The billion-dollar deal — details of which were only revealed Thursday — will provide money to the Department of Defense, Financial Services, Homeland Security, Labor-HHS Training, State-Foreign Operations and the Legislative Department.

It also includes funding for lawmakers’ pet projects such as LGBT-friendly nursing homes, funding for Israel’s Iron Dome protection system and increased defense spending.

Schumer had previously touted the deal as securing funding boosts for child care services, disease research, mental health programs and suicide prevention.

And the House Democrats were also happy with the legislation.

“The House has passed legislation to fund the government, meet the needs of ordinary Americans and avoid a shutdown,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said after the bill passed the House.

A total of 185 House Democrats voted for the agreement.

But many conservatives have said the spending bill is full of unnecessary earmarks — spending allocated to pet projects in members’ districts — and that GOP leadership’s decision to rush a vote on the measure was wrong.

“The Swamp is pushing this horrible funding bill at lightning speed so Americans can’t see what’s in it,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, wrote on X.

Late. Rick Scott, R-Fla., wrote on X: ‘Why is the minibus funding a $500,000 grant to help a closed hospital in Maryland document its history? We are 34 TRILLION in debt. Washington can’t keep wasting your tax dollars on this stupid crap!’

Senate lawmakers largely mirrored the sentiments of their counterparts in the House, as many Republicans voted against the bill while Democrats favored it.

In the House, more Republicans voted against the measure than for it.

In fact, the bill caused a split in the House of Representatives so severe that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., filed a motion to oust Speaker Mike Johnson as members voted in favor of the spending package.

The move threatens Johnson’s leadership just five months into his tenure as speaker, and is eerily reminiscent of the process that led to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster in October using the same method.

“It’s clear that the Democrats own the speaker’s gavel,” said Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., on Friday.

The House GOP leadership boasted conservative wins like a three percent increase in defense spending, retention of the Hyde Amendment and a ban on restrictions on gas stoves in the package.

But mainstream conservatives have called for other provisions like the bill’s $200 million for a new FBI headquarters and $300 million going to the Ukraine aid initiative.

The measure also includes funding for medical facilities that provide gender-affirming care to children and climate protection provisions championed by Democrats.

Congress similarly passed a $460 billion funding deal on March 8 just hours before the money allocated to the agencies ran out.