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The Senate overwhelmingly gave final approval early Saturday to a $1.2 trillion spending bill to fund more than half the government, sending the bill to President Biden’s desk just hours after a midnight deadline. This effectively avoided a government shutdown.
The 74-24 vote, which ended around 2 a.m., capped an unusual day at the Capitol that began with a huge bipartisan vote to advance the bill through the House, but which sparked a conservative insurrection. One Republican lawmaker threatened to bid. Remove Speaker of the House Mike Johnson from office.
The Senate action came more than 12 hours after the House vote. It comes after intense negotiations to arrange a series of politically charged votes on Republican-demanded amendments to the bill that threaten to force a brief partial shutdown of the government into the weekend.
In a statement minutes after the midnight deadline, the White House announced that federal officials had “ceased preparations for a shutdown” in anticipation of Biden signing the bill later Saturday. But the delay highlights difficulties that have plagued spending negotiations from the beginning, with the government on track to finally be funded by the end of the fiscal year on September 30, six months behind schedule. It was a fitting conclusion to a series of excruciating negotiations. .
“It’s been a long day, a long week, and a very long few months,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader. “But tonight, we delivered a significant investment to our government for parents and children, small businesses and health care workers, military families and more. Making these policies a reality in a divided government. It’s not easy.”
A 286-134 vote settled in the House early Friday as leaders sought the two-thirds majority needed for passage, with Democrats seeking to overcome growing opposition from conservative Republicans. rallied to provide support. .
Hard-rightists furious about a bipartisan spending deal to keep federal funding flowing to the Pentagon and Homeland Security second-guessed Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor, who was still in the process of voting. Congressman Greene has begun the process of seeking a vote to expel him. .Johnson.
Minutes after the vote, Greene told reporters on the House steps that she would not call for an immediate vote on her removal, but that she had begun the process as a “warning” because his actions were a “betrayal.”
“This was our power,” Greene said of the spending law. “This is an opportunity to secure the border, and he didn’t do it. And now this funding bill passes without a majority.”
The 1,012-page bill, which bundles six spending bills, faced difficulties in the House as ultra-conservatives pushed back against the bill. They delivered a series of furious speeches from the floor accusing Mr. Johnson of negotiating a bill that amounted to, in Mr. Greene’s words, “a brutal attack on the American people.”
No other Republicans have publicly supported expelling Mr. Johnson, but Democrats have indicated in recent weeks that they may help protect Mr. Johnson if he comes under threat from Republicans. It suggests.
However, passing this bill came at a heavy political cost to the Speaker. The speaker was forced to violate an unwritten but sacred rule within House Republicans that Greene alluded to against introducing legislation that does not have the support of a majority of members. Only 101 people, less than half, were Republicans.
This gave Democrats the bulk of the votes to pass the bill.
Democratic leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York told reporters at the Capitol ahead of the vote, “Again, it’s up to House Democrats to pass the legislation that Americans need.” ” he said.
Republicans have included a number of changes in the spending package, including funding for 2,000 new Border Patrol agents, adding detention beds run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and provisions to cut aid to the main U.N. agency providing aid to Palestinians. We won the inclusion of the clause. It would also increase funding for technology at the southern border by about 25%, while cutting funding to the State Department and foreign aid programs by about 6%.
“House Republicans won on conservative policies, rejecting extreme Democratic proposals and imposing deep cuts while significantly strengthening our national defense,” Johnson said in a statement after the vote. “This process is also an important step in breaking omnibus muscle memory and represents the best outcome achievable in a divided government.”
But conservatives argued that the $1.2 trillion bill was not conservative enough. They were particularly enraged to see $200 million in new funding for a new FBI headquarters in Maryland and specific funding requested by senators for an LGBTQ center.
“We took out all the poison riders, but Mr. Schumer will remove their poison mark,” said Representative Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., referring to the majority leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York. I wouldn’t agree with that.” Aderholt, chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that oversees labor and health programs, opposed the bill.
Before Friday morning’s vote, Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs slammed the bill as “full of nonsense” and urged Mr. Johnson to be more combative in negotiations with Democrats.
“Good luck, fight!” said Mr. Biggs. “This is surrender, this is surrender.”
Democrats secured $1 billion in new funding for federal child care and education programs and increased funding for cancer research by $120 million.
“This bill doesn’t have everything that either side wanted,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. “However, I am satisfied that many of the extreme cuts and policies that House Republicans proposed were rejected.”
A few minutes later, standing on the House floor, Mr. Biggs ruefully agreed with Mr. DeLauro’s assessment.
“And yet somehow Republicans are going to vote for it?” he said. “That’s outrageous. But she’s right. She took the spending. She killed the riders.”
Robert Jimison Contributed to the report.
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