US Senate Approves Nearly $470 Billion Budget Bill, Avoiding Government Shutdown

The US Senate has approved a budget bill just hours before the expiration of the current spending package, effectively preventing a partial government shutdown. With a vote of 75-22, the Senate passed the bill after voting on some amendments proposed by the Republican Party, although they were not successful. This budget bill governs the spending for over 10 federal agencies and independent agencies that fund transportation, energy, housing, agriculture, veterans, and other programs until the end of the 2024 fiscal year (September 30, 2024).

The passage of this spending package comes after a day-long dispute between the parties regarding the Republican Party’s proposed amendments on March 8. It marks the first significant success of the US Congress in funding the government in over five months, ending the chaotic spending negotiations resulting from the internal struggle within the Republican Party in the House of Representatives.

Now, with the March 22 deadline looming, budget allocators and congressional leaders will work on finalizing the much larger second spending package that would fund around 70% of the government’s budget, including military, healthcare, education, and labor sectors.

The $467.5 billion budget bill has been passed by the US Senate and is now awaiting President Joe Biden’s signature to become law.

Previously, on March 7, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives had passed this budget bill.

The budget bill passed by the US Senate on the evening of March 8 adheres to the spending limits set by the debt limit agreement that President Biden signed with former House Speaker McCarthy in the summer of 2023, as well as the new compromise offered by current House Speaker Mike Johnson in January 2024. As the leaders have decided to keep the non-defense spending levels essentially unchanged from the agreements, most federal agencies and programs included in the six spending packages will receive slight increases or decreases in their budgets until the end of September.

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