Baks
The U.S. Senate passed a $1.2T government funding package early Saturday morning, averting a partial shutdown and ending months of wrangling between Republicans and Democrats.
The legislation was passed by a vote of 74 to 24 and will now head to President Joe Biden to be signed into law, which he is expected to Saturday.
“We have just reached an agreement to complete the job of funding the government tonight,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on X (formerly Twitter) a little after midnight.
“It wasn’t easy, but tonight our persistence has been worth it. It is good for the American people that we have reached this bipartisan deal,” Schumer said.
The final passage came after the midnight deadline, meaning some federal funding technically expired briefly. But the Senate’s action means that the federal government is now funded through the end of the fiscal year.
The $1.2T funding package, which runs more than 1K pages long, would provide funding for the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, State and the legislative branch.
“We have funded the government with significant investments for parents and kids and small businesses and health care workers and military families and so much more. Our efforts have paid off with a strong funding bill that now goes to President Biden’s desk,” Schumer said on X.
What is a shutdown?
Several federal agencies rely on annual funding approved by Congress. The agencies submit their requests every year which Congress must pass, and the president has to sign budget legislation for the next fiscal year.
If an agreement is not reached by the start of the fiscal year on October 1, that results in a shutdown in which all non-essential discretionary functions stop.
Usually when the deadline approaches, lawmakers from both parties on Capitol Hill agree on temporary funding based on the previous year’s requests.