Negotiators reach spending deal but timeline is tight to avoid shutdown

March 19th, 2024

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks during The Friends Of Ireland Speaker Luncheon on March 15, 2023 in Washington, D.C.
Tom Brenner / Tom Brenner

House Republican leaders struck a deal Monday evening with the White House on a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, paving the way for six spending bills to pass by the end of the week, according to Congressional leaders.

“An agreement has been reached for DHS appropriations, which will allow completion of the FY24 appropriations process,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement Tuesday morning. “House and Senate committees have begun drafting bill text to be prepared for release and consideration by the full House and Senate as soon as possible.”

The package includes Defense, Homeland Security, financial services and general government, Labor-HHS, the legislative branch, and state-foreign operations. Homeland Security had been the sticking point between negotiators from Johnson’s team and the White House.

The deal would fund the government until the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30.

Current funding ends this Friday — setting up a race against the clock for Congress to put together the text of the agreement and bring it for votes in both chambers. President Biden, in a statement, said he will sign the bill passed by the House and Senate “immediately.”

House GOP leadership has already pledged to give members 72 hours to read legislation before voting on it. If the text is released Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, it puts lawmakers on a tight time crunch to hit that 72-hour window and vote before midnight on Friday.

“The Senate and House Appropriations Committees are in the process of finalizing text and reports for Congress to closely review and consider as soon as possible,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in a statement.

This all comes after Congress passed stopgap spending bill in late February, preventing a partial government shutdown.

That deal was the result of a bipartisan agreement between the four leaders in the House and Senate, who committed to voting on those bills by March 8 and March 22.