Senate PASSES $1.2 trillion spending bill - after missing midnight deadline, with vote continuing into early hours

The Senate has passed a $1.2 trillion spending package to fund the government after a brief shutdown overnight. 

The legislation passed in a 74-24 vote in the early hours of Sunday morning, as lawmakers missed the deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown.  

Senators did not enter the chamber to begin voting on spending amendments until shortly before midnight. But the shutdown only lasted a few hours and had little impact. The bill must be signed by President Biden.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that a deal had been struck on the Senate floor minutes before midnight, saying: 'It's been a very long and difficult day, but we have just reached an agreement to complete the job of funding the government.' 

The 1,000-page measure brings together funding for six of the 12 appropriations spending bills that need to be passed annually. It packages nearly 75 percent of the government's annual funding into just one vote, called a minibus. 

The trillion-dollar deal - the details of which were only revealed on Thursday - will provide money for the Departments of Defense, Financial Services, Homeland Security, Labor-HHS-Education, State-Foreign Operations and the Legislative Branch.

It also includes funding for lawmakers' pet projects such as LGBT-friendly retirement homes, funding for Israel's Iron Dome protection system and defense spending increases.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., bragged the agreement secured funding boosts to childcare services, disease research, mental health programs and suicide prevention.

Speaker Mike Johnson was able to rush a quick vote on the bill in the House on Friday, angering some of his conservative members 

Schumer had previously touted that the agreement secured funding boosts to childcare services, disease research, mental health programs and suicide prevention.

And House Democrats were happy with the legislation too.  

'The House has passed legislation to fund the government, meet the needs of everyday Americans and avoid a shutdown,' Democrat House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said after the bill passed through the House. 

In total, 185 House Democrats voted in favor of the deal.

But many conservatives have said the spending bill is full of unnecessary earmarks - spending allocated for pet projects in member's districts - and that GOP leadership's decision to rush a vote on the measure was wrong. 

'The Swamp is pushing this appalling funding bill with lightning speed, so that Americans don’t see what’s in it,' Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, posted on X. 

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., posted on X: 'Why does the minibus fund a $500k grant to help a closed hospital in Maryland document its history? We are $34 TRILLION in debt. Washington can’t keep wasting your tax dollars on this stupid crap!'

Senate lawmakers largely mirrored the sentiment of their House counterparts as many in Republicans voted against the bill while Democrats were for it.

In the House, more Republicans voted against the measure than for it.

In fact, the bill caused a divide in the House GOP so severe that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., filed a motion to vacate Speaker Mike Johnson as members were voting for the spending package.

The move threatens Johnson's leadership just five months into his tenure as speaker, and is eerily reminiscent of the process that led to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy's October ouster using the same method. 

'It's clear that the Democrats own the speaker's gavel,' Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., said Friday. 

Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., ripped Speaker Mike Johnson for backing the $1.2 trillion deal, saying 'Democrats own the speaker's gavel'

House GOP leadership bragged about conservative wins like a three percent increase in defense spending, retaining the Hyde amendment and a ban on gas stove restrictions in the package.

But rank-and-file conservatives have called out other provisions like the bill's $200 million for a new FBI headquarters and $300 million that goes toward the Ukrainian Assistance Initiative.

The measure also includes funding for medical facilities that provide gender affirming care for children and climate protection provisions championed by Democrats. 

Congress similarly passed a $460 billion funding deal on March 8 just hours before the money allocated for the agencies ran out.