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The Senate handed a $460 billion package of spending payments to avert a partial government shutdown forward of the primary funding deadline Friday.
Lawmakers spent the vast majority of Friday contemplating motions associated to the slate of payments and debating the package following President Biden’s State of the Union deal with on Thursday night time.
The votes had been 75-22 in favor, and the package now goes to Biden for him to signal.
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Bills funding Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the Departments of Justice and Commerce, Energy and Water Development, the Department of Interior, and Transportation and Housing for the rest of fiscal 12 months 2024 had been finally authorised by senators and can head to President Biden’s desk to be signed.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters on the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 6, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
However, the higher chamber cleared the midnight shutdown deadline by solely quite a lot of hours, with a big faction of largely Republicans opposing every step of Senate process.
On the movement to invoke cloture on the payments to restrict debate, which requires a 60-vote threshold within the physique, the chamber voted 63-35, solely narrowly avoiding a possible filibuster. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, famous on the ground that the selection of many Republicans to oppose cloture on the invoice was not as a result of they need to see a shutdown, however as a result of they had been denied votes on a number of amendments, significantly these relating to immigration.
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The Senate additionally struggled to set up a time settlement to shortly transfer the package by means of the chamber.
Sen. Rand Paul speaks throughout the COVID Federal Response Hearing on Capitol Hill on June 16, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Joe Raedle)
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who serves as vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, supplied a “warning” to her fellow Republicans forward of the vote over their hesitance to assist the package. “If we do not act at midnight tonight, we will have a partial government shutdown,” she mentioned in flooring remarks. “It will affect the Department of Agriculture. It will impair the work of the Food and Drug Administration. It will prevent military construction projects from going forward.”
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The package was first handed by the House on Wednesday by a vote of 339-85.
Several Republican senators had expressed skepticism prior to the vote, pointing to the variety of earmarks included.
Various these involved Republicans joined a decision to condemn using earmarks in finances appropriations. Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., Mike Braun, R-Ind., Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., held a press convention on Wednesday, throughout which they slammed the present course of for not permitting debate on varied earmarks by particular person lawmakers.
Sen. Mike Lee speaks throughout the Senate Judiciary Committee markup listening to on Thursday, November 30, 2023. (Bill Clark)
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“The minibus spending bill has more than 6,600 projects that will cost taxpayers $12 billion,” Scott mentioned in an announcement. “This clearly isn’t about funding the government, it’s about funding pet projects for politicians like Chuck Schumer.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., revealed on Wednesday his intent to vote towards the measure, with a special justification. “Buried in the appropriations bill being voted on this week is a terrible new gun policy rider that significantly rolls back the firearms background check system. You need to know about this – it’s bad enough that I will vote against the entire bill,” he mentioned in an announcement.
The second funding deadline is March 22, and spending payments are nonetheless being negotiated for consideration. Bills to fund the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon shall be included within the second slate of appropriations measures.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., revealed on Wednesday his intent to vote towards the measure. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg by way of Getty Images)
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Last month’s week-long stopgap funding measure grew to become the fourth of its variety for the reason that preliminary appropriations invoice deadline to fund the government for the 12 months on Sept. 30.
Part of the justification amongst House Republicans who ensured the removing of former California Rep. Kevin McCarthy from the speakership was his failure to preserve guarantees, together with passing appropriations payments in common order. However, newly minted Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has struggled to get funding payments handed with out using stopgap measures, particularly amid a shrinking Republican majority.
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