The Senate and House both voted Thursday afternoon to approve legislation that would provide Federal government funding at fiscal year (FY) 2023 levels through early March, and prevent a partial shutdown of government operations when current funding is set to expire at midnight on Friday.
The Senate approved the continuing resolution (CR) funding bill by a vote of 77-18. The House okayed the same bill on a vote of 314-108.
The legislation still requires President Biden’s signature to become law.
“My colleagues and I, on both sides of the aisle, worked late into the evening last night to reach this agreement,” said Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., following the Senate’s vote Thursday afternoon.
“Avoiding a shutdown is very good news for every American especially for our veterans, our parents, our children, our farmers, our small businesses, and so many others who would have felt the sting of the government shutdown,” he said. “It’s precisely what Americans want to see – both sides working together and governing responsibly. No chaos. No spectacle, no shut down.”
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said, “we know a shutdown … would be devastating.”
“I have been working nonstop with my colleagues in both chambers to keep this process moving as quickly as we possibly can so that we can write and pass the strongest possible [FY 2024] funding bills,” she said. “Passing this measure will allow us the time we need to hammer out those funding bills for fiscal year 24 after many months of needless delays,” the senator said, adding, “I think we all want this to be a drama-free and reliable process.”
Under the CR funding legislation approved by Congress in November 2023, some agencies – including the Departments of Transportation, Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, and Veterans Affairs – were funded at FY2023 levels only through Jan. 19, 2024. Most others were funded through Feb. 2.
The CR bill approved by the Senate and House today today would extend funding at fiscal year 2023 levels to March 1 for agencies including the Departments of Transportation, Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, and Veterans Affairs. For remaining agencies – among them the Departments of Commerce, Justice, Defense, and Homeland Security – the legislation would extend funding to March 8.
Earlier this month, Republican and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill reached agreement on top-line Federal government funding levels for fiscal year 2024, with the White House voicing its support.
According to a Jan. 7 dear colleague letter from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., the agreement on top-line budget figures tracks the terms of the Fiscal Responsibility Act approved by Congress in June 2023.
That law increased the U.S. national debt limit through early 2025, allows for a 3.3 percent increase in defense spending for FY2024, caps Federal non-defense discretionary spending in FY2024 close to FY2023 levels, and limits non-defense spending increases to one percent in FY2025.
