President Joe Biden and congressional leaders announced a deal Tuesday morning to fund the government ahead of the weekend deadline. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), announced the Department of Home Security deal in a statement, saying that it will allow the government will be funded for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends in September. “House and Senate committees have begun drafting bill text to be prepared for release and consideration by the full House and Senate as soon as possible,” he said. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), added that both chambers are now “in the process of finalizing text and reports for Congress to closely review and consider ASAP.”
Funding is set to expire Saturday morning for the Departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security, Labor and Health and Human Services, and several other government agencies. Five other bills were settled last week, with the Homeland Security bill causing the most argument, fuss, and debate between Democrats and Republicans.
However, Johnson is only giving lawmakers 72 hours to read the text of the bill before the vote. For the bill to pass, the Senate requires unanimous consent on the voting deadline of 11:59 p.m. ET Friday to avoid a partial government shutdown Saturday morning.
“We have come to an agreement with Congressional leaders on a path forward for the remaining full-year funding bills,” Biden said, “The House and Senate are now working to finalize a package that can quickly be brought to the floor, and I will sign it immediately.”
The Homeland Security bill was a point of contention, as two leaders of the hard-right Freedom Caucus argued that any bill must contain “the core elements of H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act,” or Biden’s immigration policies won’t change. “Therefore, we ask you to join us in rejecting the appropriations package (or anything similar) slated to be before the House that will directly fund these disastrous policies, and choose instead to stand against this assault on the American people,” they wrote.
These hard-right members, including Bob Good (R-VA), and Chip Roy (R-TX), are expected to vote against the package, but their votes are not needed for a bipartisan solution to pass the bill.
