President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were joined by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-Ky.). (New York), talks with House Minority Leader Hakim (R-L) Jeffries (D-New York) at the White House in Washington, DC, on February 27, 2024.
robert schmidt getty images
president joe biden signed on saturday meetingFinalize the rest of the long-awaited budget bill, a $1.2 trillion spending package to keep the government funded until Oct. 1.
Almost halfway through the fiscal year, the president's signature ends a months-long battle. meeting It struggled to secure a permanent budget resolution and instead passed a stopgap measure, largely averting a government shutdown.
“The bipartisan funding bill I signed will keep our government open, invest in the American people, and strengthen our economy and national security,” Biden said in a statement Saturday. „This agreement represents a compromise, meaning both sides got everything they wanted.“
The weekend budget deal was narrowly concluded just before the midnight Friday funding deadline, as has been the case this year, when an 11th-hour disagreement derailed a nearly complete deal.
The Senate passed the budget by a vote of 74-24 around 2 a.m. ET on Saturday, two hours after the deadline due to a last-minute disagreement. However, the White House said a formal closure operation would not begin because an agreement was ultimately secured and all that remained was the formalities.
The House passed its own vote Friday morning, after a week of struggles to reconcile the persistent challenge of funding the Department of Homeland Security, which the White House called into question last weekend. As lawmakers prepared to unveil the budget text, concerns from the White House further delayed the negotiation process.
The $6 trillion spending bill would provide funding to agencies related to defense, financial services, homeland security, health and human services, and more. Congress approved $459 billion in the first six spending bills in early March, tied to government agencies that are less partisan and easier to negotiate.
With the government finally getting funding for the remainder of the fiscal year, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) has solved at least one pressing problem.
But in doing so, he may have created something else.
On Friday morning, hours before the House passed the spending package, hardline House Republicans held a press conference to slam the bill. Shortly after the House narrowly passed the bill, far-right Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a motion calling for Johnson's removal.
If ousting the Speaker of the House over budget differences seems like a familiar story, that's because it is.
In October, the House voted to remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy after he reached a deal with Democrats to avert a government shutdown, making him the first speaker in history to be removed from office. Prime Minister Johnson continues to try to appease the House Republican Party, known as the Freedom Caucus, to avoid a similar fate.