Partial government shutdown ensues after Congress FAILS to pass $1.2 trillion spending bill before midnight deadline – but deal IS agreed, with final vote expected within hours

The Senate has reached a deal to pass a $1.2 trillion spending package, meaning lawmakers will fund the government shortly after a partial shutdown begins at midnight.

The bill still needs to be signed by President Biden, with senators only entering the chamber to vote on the spending amendments shortly before the deadline.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that an agreement had been reached in the Senate minutes before midnight, saying, “It has been a very long and difficult day, but we have just reached an agreement to tackle the task of funding to complete the government.’

The 1,000-page measure bundles funding for six of the 12 budget bills that must be approved annually. It bundles almost 75 percent of annual government funding into just one vote, a so-called minibus.

The $1 trillion deal — details of which were only revealed Thursday — will provide money for the Departments of Defense, Financial Services, Homeland Security, Labor-HHS-Education, State Foreign Operations and the Legislature.

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

Schumer had previously touted that the deal provided financial boosts for child care, disease research, mental health programs and suicide prevention.

And Democrats in the House of Representatives also welcomed the legislation.

“The House of Representatives has passed legislation to fund the government, meet the needs of everyday Americans and prevent a shutdown,” Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said after the bill passed the House had been accepted.

A total of 185 Democrats in the House of Representatives voted in favor of the agreement.

But many conservatives have said the spending bill is full of unnecessary spending — spending allocated to pet projects in members’ districts — and that the Republican Party’s decision to rush to a vote on the measure was wrong.

“The Swamp is pushing this horrible funding bill at lightning speed so that Americans don’t see what’s inside,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, wrote on X.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., posted on We have a debt burden of $34 trillion. Washington can’t keep wasting your tax dollars on this stupid nonsense!’

Lawmakers in the Senate largely mirrored the sentiment of their counterparts in the House of Representatives, as many Republicans voted against the bill, while Democrats were in favor of it.

More Republicans in the House of Representatives voted against the measure than for it.

In fact, the bill created a division among Republicans so deep that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., filed a motion to fire Speaker Mike Johnson because members voted in favor of the spending package.

The move threatens Johnson’s leadership just five months into his term as Speaker and is eerily reminiscent of the process that led to the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy in October, which used the same method.

“It’s clear that Democrats own the gavel,” Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., said Friday.

The Republican Party leadership in the House of Representatives boasted of conservative victories such as a three percent increase in defense spending, retention of the Hyde Amendment and a ban on restrictions on gas stoves in the package.

But rank-and-file conservatives have mentioned other provisions, such as the $200 million included in the bill for a new FBI headquarters and $300 million going to the Ukraine Aid Initiative.

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

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