Topline The House passed a $1.2 trillion budget to fund the rest of the government through September on Friday, sending the bill to the
Senate just hours before the agencies covered in the new spending plan would have shut down. With his head bowed, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) speeds from his office past ... [+] journalists and to the House Chamber ahead of a vote on a federal budget bill at the U.S. Capitol on March 22, 2024 in
Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Key Facts The House voted 286-134, with 23
Democrats and 112
Republicans opposing the legislation, which needed two-thirds support to pass under an expedited timeline known as suspension of the rules. The package, announced Tuesday and unveiled early Thursday, sets spending guidelines for the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, Education, Health and Human Services and State for the rest of the current fiscal year. The budget, which includes a 3% increase in defense spending and keeps non-defense spending relatively flat, is nearly six months late—Congress has extended the fiscal year 2023 budget four separate times to keep the government up and running while it worked out a spending plan for fiscal year 2024. Among the most controversial provisions in the package is a one-year ban on funding for the
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and only allowing
American and other official flags to be flown at U.S. State department facilities, a reversal of a State Department policy authorizing pride flags—two measures backed by Republicans. Democrats, meanwhile, touted an additional $200 million for a new
FBI headquarters in
Maryland and a $1 billion increase in funding for Child Care and Head Start programs, along with the exclusion of new
border wall funding. The package also includes funding for 2,000 additional Border Patrol agents and 8,000 new detention beds for
immigration and Customs Enforcement. What To Watch For The legislation now heads to the Senate, where it requires support from the entirety of the upper chamber to move forward, leaving open the possibility of a partial shutdown or another stopgap measure. A temporary closure over the weekend would have limited effect on government operations, but if it extends to Monday, workers with the Internal Revenue Service, Customs and Border Protection and Transportation Security Administration could be furloughed. Key Background The House is narrowly controlled by the GOP while Democrats hold a thin majority in the Senate, requiring tough bipartisan negotiations to keep the government open—and sometimes forcing GOP leaders to anger hard-right members who favor deep spending cuts.
Congress passed what’s known as “continuing resolutions” in September, November, January and again in February to fund the government under the fiscal year 2023 plan as it worked out a full-year deal. The February vote extended the deadline for the Departments of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, Commerce Justice, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development through March 8 and the remainder through March 22. Negotiations on the legislation approved Friday were largely stalled over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, amid a bitter partisan feud over border security. Chief Critic Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., filed a motion to remove House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., from his leadership post over the legislation moments before the House was set to vote on the budget. Hard-right lawmakers have expressed outrage over a host of provisions in the spending plan, including its exclusion of policy riders that would have blocked access to reproductive healthcare services, gender affirming care, and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The House’s decision in September to continue the fiscal year 2023 budget was the catalyst to former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s, R-Calif., historic ouster in October, with a small group of far-right lawmakers who voted for his removal citing a lack of sufficient spending cuts in the plan. Greene, a McCarthy ally, did not vote for his removal.