Congress Finally Completes Appropriations Process for Fiscal Year 2024
Both legislative chambers passed the $1.2 trillion minibus to keep the government fully funded this year.
After six months, the U.S. Congress has finally appropriated funds covering the entire federal government for Fiscal Year 2024. Today, both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate passed the second minibus package this month setting funding levels for the government. The second package covered the Defense, Financial Services, Homeland Security, Labor-HHS-Education, Legislative Branch and State-Foreign Operations bills. Collectively, these bills cover around 70% of the government’s discretionary funding.
The minibus was approved by the U.S. House with a 286-134 vote in the morning of Friday, March 22. Notably though, a majority of House Republicans voted against the package. Despite that, it still passed with the necessary two-thirds majority. The Senate then approved the minibus by a 74-24 vote in the early hours of Saturday, March 23 - which was enough to overcome a legislative filibuster.
Timing was a predominate fear throughout this last week to avoid a partial government shutdown. The agencies covered by these six bills were set to run out of funds at midnight on Friday, March 22. By the time the 1,012-page legislative text was released, lawmakers didn’t have the 72 hours House Republicans require before bringing the package to the floor for a vote. House Speaker Mike Johnson bypassed those rules. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer once again had to negotiate with Senate Republicans to allow for amendment votes in exchange for shortening the time required before final passage.
The six bills combined in the minibus package result in $1.2 trillion in spending for the federal government through September 30, 2024. Defense programs saw the most significant uptick in spending with a 3% overall increase from the previous year. Meanwhile, State Department operations were targeted by Republicans with significant cuts - landing at a loss of around 6% from last year. Furthermore, the Homeland Security bill saw policy wins in favor of Republicans in terms of immigrant detention at the expense of support programs.
Republicans in both chambers voiced opposition to the bill largely due to the individual earmarks sought by their Democratic colleagues. They objected to programs they saw as violating their moral priorities. That included programs across the country providing LGBTQ support and access to reproductive care. Republicans also opposed the continuation of current funding levels for the Defense Department’s climate programs.
Meanwhile, Democrats took issue with the blocking of funds for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The Biden Administration cut off funds for the agency after Israel accused several of its members of participating in the October 7 attack. The bill prevents any pre-existing funds from going to the agency through March 2025 and doesn’t include any new funding for the current fiscal year. Democratic objections come as Israel has been accused of using famine as a weapon of war against the innocent civilians of Gaza. UNRWA is the only agency on the ground that can effectively provide aid to the region to avoid more senseless deaths from starvation. UNRWA also provides resources to other refugee camps throughout the Middle East. Those programs have also been affected by a result of this ban in funds.
Republicans secured several pro-Israel policy wins in the minibus despite continuing to block the Senate-approved national security supplemental for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The bill includes $500 million for missile defense in Israel as well as $3.3 billion to continue buying American weapons. Moreover, the measure would block the U.S. from funding the U.N. Commission of Inquiry examining potential war crimes committed by Israeli forces as well as any attempts to move the U.S. embassy out of Jerusalem.
The measure features a significant increase in detention beds overseen by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The current law covers 34,000 beds. That has now been expanded to 41,500 through this effort. Funding for U.S. Border Patrol has also been raised. Democrats were successful in ensuring no funds were designated for the construction of a wall alongside the nation’s southern border. However, funds supporting nongovernment organizations providing aid to migrants were ultimately cut by around 20%.
Despite the Republican policy victories in the Defense, Homeland Security and State-Foreign Operations bills, the remainder of the package saw wins for Democrats. That includes a $1 billion increase in funding for child care and Head Start early education grants, a $120 million increase in funding for cancer research, a $100 million increase in funding for Alzheimer’s and dementia research, and a $20 million boost for Title I funding for school districts.
The funding measure also covers pay increases for several notable groups of public servants. Military troops will see a pay raise of 5.2%, which is noted as the largest percentage increase in decades. Meanwhile, the salaries of employees at the Transportation Security Administration will be increased by $1 billion overall. And finally, an additional $200 million was allocated towards the construction of a new FBI headquarters in Greenbelt, Maryland.