Biden signs $1.2 trillion package of spending bills, ending threat of partial government shutdown
WILMINGTON, Del. — President Joe Biden on Saturday signed a $1.2 trillion package of spending bills after Congress passed the long-overdue legislation just hours earlier, ending the threat of a partial government shutdown.
The White House said Biden signed the legislation at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, where he was spending the weekend. It cleared the Senate by a 74-24 vote shortly after funding expired for the agencies at midnight.
The White House had sent out a notice shortly after the deadline announcing that the Office of Management and Budget ceased shutdown preparations because there was a high degree of confidence that Congress would pass the legislation and the president would sign it Saturday.
It took lawmakers six months into the current budget year to get near the finish line on government funding, the process slowed by conservatives who pushed for more policy mandates and steeper spending cuts than a Democratic-led Senate or White House would consider. The impasse required several short-term spending bills to keep agencies funded.
The first package of full-year spending bills, which funded the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture and the Interior, among others, cleared Congress two weeks ago with just hours to spare before funding expired for those agencies. The second covered the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and State, as well as other aspects of general government.
When combining the two packages, discretionary spending for the budget year will come to about $1.66 trillion. That does not include programs such as Social Security and Medicare, or financing the country’s rising debt.
On Ukraine aid, which Biden and his administration argued was critical and necessary to help stop Russia’s invasion, the package provided $300 million under the defense spending umbrella. That funding is separate from a large assistance package for Ukraine and Israel that is bo
“This agreement represents a compromise, which means neither side got everything it wanted,” Biden said in a statement. “But it rejects extreme cuts from House Republicans and expands access to child care, invests in cancer research, funds mental health and substance use care, advances American leadership abroad, and provides resources to secure the border. … That’s good news for the American people.”
To win over support from Republicans, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., pointed to some of the spending increases secured for about 8,000 more detention beds for migrants awaiting their immigration proceedings or removal from the country. That’s about a 24% increase from current levels. Also, GOP leadership highlighted more money to hire about 2,000 Border Patrol agents.
Democrats boasted of a $1 billion increase for Head Start programs and new child care centers for military families. They also played up a $120 million increase in funding for cancer research and a $100 million increase for Alzheimer’s research.
The spending package largely tracks with an agreement that then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., worked out with the White House in May 2023, which restricted spending for two years and suspended the debt ceiling into January 2025 so the federal government could continue paying its bills.
Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told lawmakers that last year’s agreement, which became the Fiscal Responsibility Act, will save the federal government about $1 trillion over the coming decade.