Senate Approves Bill to Avert Shutdown Hours Before Deadline

The U.S. Senate on Friday passed a $460 billion spending bill to fund around half of the federal government, averting a partial shutdown hours before the deadline.

The spending package—made up of six appropriations bills—passed through the Senate with a bipartisan vote of 75-22. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the legislation into law ahead of a midnight deadline.

The bill covers funding for a variety of programs, including agriculture, transportation, housing and veterans. Members of Congress will continue negotiating a second package with a March 22 deadline that will allow all federal agencies to be funded.

The package arrived to the Senate after it passed the House of Representatives earlier this week following months of bickering between Republicans and Democrats, as well as GOP infighting that contributed to the House being left without a speaker for a period of time. Stopgap bills had served as a means to keep federal agencies funded while debating continued on a larger spending deal.

"To folks who worry that divided government means nothing ever gets done, this bipartisan package says otherwise," Senator Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat and the majority leader, said. "It helps parents and veterans and firefighters and farmers and school cafeterias and more."

Both sides of the aisle were able to claim some victories in the spending deal.

For Democrats, that includes fighting off a policy rider put forth by Republicans that would place restrictions on access to abortion pills. Democrats also won $1 billion in additional funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

Meanwhile, Republicans were able to work in a provision that strengthens gun rights protections for military veterans who aren't able to manage their own veteran affairs benefits. The GOP also successfully made spending cuts to the FBI, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray, a Washington state Democrat, said during debate on the Senate floor on Friday that "this isn't the package I would have written on my own. But I am proud that we have protected absolutely vital funding that the American people rely on in their daily lives."

The next package due on March 22 could see a more fraught negotiating process since it covers the Departments of Defense, State and Homeland Security, all of which notoriously elicit divisions between the political parties.

Update 03/08/24, 9:08 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to include more information.