Senate Starts Late-Night Voting on $1.2 Trillion Funding Bill
TL/DR –
The US Senate was voting on a bill to keep a large number of departments and agencies open, after it had missed the midnight deadline to prevent a partial shutdown. The bill, which was passed by the House, is for $1.2 trillion and will fund departments including State, Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security. Once signed into law by President Joe Biden, the government will be fully funded through September.
US Senate Votes on Bill to Avert Government Shutdown
The US Senate worked into the early hours of Saturday voting on a bill to avoid a partial shutdown of government departments and agencies, surpassing the midnight deadline to prevent the shutdown.
Despite the missed deadline, the shutdown is predicted to be brief and with minimal impact. Senate leaders declared that they have an agreement to vote on several amendments, and then the final approval of the bill, which will then go to President Joe Biden for his signature.
An official from the White House budget office stated that they have halted shutdown preparations due to high confidence that Congress will pass the necessary appropriations and that the president will sign the bill. This will allow government agencies to continue their normal operations, as obligations of federal funds are tracked on a daily basis.
Once President Biden signs the package into law, it will fund the entire government up until the end of September. The House approved the $1.2 trillion spending bill on Friday morning, which includes funding for the departments of State, Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security, among others.
The Senate signaled it has enough support to pass the bill after a 78-18 procedural vote on Friday. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced before the deadline that both parties agreed to vote on multiple amendments and the final version of the bill early Saturday morning.
The divided Congress has managed to prevent multiple shutdowns this session, passing four stopgap bills that extended the deadline. However, discussions seemed to break down on Friday, with Senator Tom Cotton, R-Ark., blaming Democrats in key Senate races for stalling the agreement, claiming they were avoiding voting on amendments that could negatively impact their re-election campaigns.
Senator Jon Tester, D-Mont., who is in a tight re-election race that could determine the Senate majority, refuted these claims. This led to a tense exchange between the two senators in front of reporters just off the Senate floor.
Senators expressed frustration over the repeated avoidance of funding lapses throughout the fiscal year, yet struggling to do so for the final lapse of the fiscal year. Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, expressed her discontent in an interview, likening the situation to a “candy pizza muddle”.
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