Biden signs $1.2 trillion funding bill to avoid government shutdown

US News

By Jon Levine

President Biden has signed a $1.2 trillion funding package to keep the government open.

“The bipartisan funding bill I just signed keeps the government open, invests in the American people, and strengthens our economy and national security. This agreement represents a compromise, which means neither side got everything it wanted,” the president said in a statement Saturday.

“But I want to be clear: Congress’s work isn’t finished. The House must pass the bipartisan national security supplemental to advance our national security interests,” Biden added. “And Congress must pass the bipartisan border security agreement—the toughest and fairest reforms in decades—to ensure we have the policies and funding needed to secure the border.”

After much delay and wrangling, the Senate passed the bill early Saturday morning by a vote of 74-24 vote.

The bill mitigates a partial government shut down, which technically went into effect after the chamber blew past a midnight deadline to move the funding package.

“It’s been a very long and difficult day, but we have just reached an agreement to complete the job of funding the government,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said from the Senate floor after the vote. “It is good for the country that we have reached this bipartisan deal. It wasn’t easy, but tonight our persistence has been worth it.”

The funding bill went through more tortuous process in the House of Representatives. Though Speaker Mike Johnson passed it with a wide bipartisan majority of 286-134 —the conservative House Freedom Caucus blasted the bill at a news conference as “capitulation,” “surrender” and “chock full of crap.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) called the spending bill “a complete betrayal of all of our values” and moved to file a motion to vacate resolution against Johnson. The procedural move, which ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, could potentially throw the chamber into another debilitating leadership crisis.

With the looming retirement of Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.) this week, Republicans will control the chamber by just a single vote.