In the early hours of Saturday morning, the Senate made a decision to approve a government funding bill worth $1.2 trillion, effectively preventing a government shutdown. The bill, known as the “minibus” government spending bill, had already been passed by the House on Friday morning. However, it is worth noting that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) disregarded the objections of the majority of House Republicans and violated the Hastert Rule in order to pass the bill, as reported by Bradley Jaye from Breitbart News.
The minibus spending package encompassed funding bills for various departments, including Defense (DOD), Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), Homeland Security (DHS), and other sectors of the federal government.
Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) expressed his disappointment, describing it as “typical” and “juvenile” for the Senate to wait until the last minute to avert a government shutdown.
NBC News reported:
“The divided Congress has narrowly averted multiple shutdowns this session, passing four stopgap bills that kept extending the deadline. And at nearly six months into the fiscal year, it’s unusually late in the game to be haggling over the funding measures. The latest bill was released Thursday and passed by the House on Friday morning, leaving little time for the Senate to act. For a while, those talks appeared to fall apart midday Friday, with Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., arguing the agreement was scuttled by vulnerable Democrats in key Senate races, claiming they don’t want to have to vote on amendments that could be used against them in their re-election campaigns.”
Sen. Tom Cotton was furious, saying “The bottom line is Democratic senators running for re-election are scared to vote on amendments.”
The Senate has decided by a vote of 51-47 to reject an amendment that aimed to include the Laken Riley Act in the funding bill.
The Laken Riley Act proposes that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must detain illegal aliens who have been arrested, charged, or convicted for crimes such as burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting.
Sen. J.D. Vance was quick to call out the Democrats, saying, “Senate Democrats are shutting down the government rather than allow us to vote on things like deporting criminal migrants. Say what you will, but they’re committed to open borders.”
Senate Democrats are shutting down the government rather than allow us to vote on things like deporting criminal migrants.
Say what you will, but they’re committed to open borders.
— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) March 23, 2024