Biden signs $1.2 trillion government funding package, averting partial shutdown

President Joe Biden speaks at Culver City Julian Dixon Library in Culver City, Calif., Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Joe Biden signed the funding bills package into law Saturday, the White House said, averting a partial government shutdown.

“This agreement represents a compromise, which means neither side got everything it wanted,” Biden said in a statement. “But it rejects extreme cuts from House Republicans and expands access to child care, invests in cancer research, funds mental health and substance use care, advances American leadership abroad, and provides resources to secure the border that my Administration successfully fought to include.”

Biden once again called on Congress to pass a national security supplemental bill to provide U.S. assistance to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, and funding for border security and reforms to border policy.

“Congress’s work isn’t finished,” Biden said, later adding, “It’s time to get this done.”

After a day of total procedural hijinks, the Senate passed the government funding bills in the early morning hours of Saturday, having struck an eleventh-hour amendment agreement to allow expedited passage of the bill.

The $1.2 trillion government funding bill was sent to Biden’s desk as the late night drama on Capitol Hill capped a turbulent process featuring a year of haggling, six months of stopgaps and intense partisan clashes over money and policy.

Majority Leader Schumer announced the agreement on the floor early Saturday morning.

“It’s been a very long and difficult day but we have just reached an agreement to complete the job of funding the government. It is good for the country that we have reached this bipartisan deal it wasn’t easy but tonight our persistence has been worth it,” Schumer said. “It is good for the American people that we have reached an agreement to fund the government tonight.”

The White House said shortly after midnight that the Office of Management and Budget ceased its shutdown preparations, citing “a high degree of confidence” that Congress will “imminently pass” funding bills to keep the government open.

“Because obligations of federal funds are incurred and tracked on a daily basis, agencies will not shut down and may continue their normal operations,” the White House said after the Senate passed the bill.