President Joe Biden and congressional leaders have reached an agreement on the final set of spending bills for this fiscal year. The challenge now is to pass the bills quickly to avoid a partial government shutdown, as funding for several key agencies expires at midnight on Saturday morning.
The House and Senate are working to finalize the package, but time is limited. Legislative staff needs to finish writing the bill, which is a complex task. The House has a rule that lawmakers must have 72 hours to review a bill before voting, and the Senate is known for its slower pace.
The spending package hit a late obstacle around funding for the Department of Homeland Security, but that issue was resolved on Monday. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said the relevant committees are now drafting the bill text for consideration by the full House and Senate as soon as possible.
Nearly six months into the fiscal year, Congress has only passed about 30% of the discretionary spending bills, which are expected to total around $1.65 trillion. The current package will provide about $886 billion for the Pentagon and fund other departments like Health and Human Services and Labor.
House Republicans have been trying to end the practice of combining all 12 annual spending bills into one massive “omnibus” bill. They managed to split the spending bills into two parts this time.
If the bill text is released late Tuesday, the House’s 72-hour rule means they would not vote on it until late Friday, just hours before funding expires. The Senate would then need to act quickly, with all senators agreeing to speed up the process to meet the midnight Friday deadline.
Most “no” votes are expected to come from Republicans who are critical of the overall spending levels and the lack of mandates for their preferred policies, like restrictions on abortions.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.