Congressional leaders agree to spending plan

After two weeks of negotiation, Congressional leadership from both parties announced an agreement on six spending bills Tuesday morning. The deal comes just days before a partial government shutdown that would begin at midnight Friday if Congress does not approve the bills first. “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,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement.

The House of Representatives’ rules dictate that legislation must be introduced at least 72 hours before a vote. That means leadership must produce the bill’s contents no later than Wednesday if they hope to pass the spending package before the end of Saturday. The six bills would fund the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, state and foreign operations, the legislative branch, labor and health and human services, and “Financial Services and general government.”

Where does that leave government funding? The House of Representatives has worked for five months to produce spending legislation needed to fund the remainder of 2024’s fiscal year, which runs through September. Since October, Congress has extended its deadlines and continued to negotiate, only to extend them again. This spending package would finally end the government funding question in 2024.

The passage of the last six bills would also mark the first time in 27 years that Congress has used the regular 12-bill appropriations process to fund the government—in contrast to omnibus packages that lump together government spending.

Dig deeper: Read my report on how Congress passed the first six spending bills earlier this month.