After nearly 6 months of passing stop-gap bills and narrowly avoiding a government shut down, the US Senate finally passed a $1.2 trillion funding bill on Friday, March 22. .
This $1.2 trillion budget does not include funding for the Departments of Veteran Affairs, Agriculture, the Interior, and other agencies which were funded by a separate bill two weeks beforehand to prevent the departments from shutting down. Nearly 70% of this budget(~$886 million) is allocated to the Department of Defense and includes a pay raise for American soldiers. One of the most divisive aspects of budget negotiations has been whether or not the US should include funding for Ukraine and Israel in the budget. The finalized budget notably includes no funding for either country. The bill also includes funding to hire more border patrol agents as well as a $120 million increase in funding for cancer research and a $100 million increase in funding for Alzheimer’s research.
Although many believe that this bill was long overdue, conservatives in the House of Representatives were not pleased with the contents of the bill or how fast it was passed. In response, outspoken conservative congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced a measure to oust Mike Johnson from his position as Speaker of the House in a controversial move that mirrors the removal of Kevin McCarthy just last year. In a show of their frustration, a majority of House Republicans voted against the bill, although not enough to prevent the bill from reaching the Senate.
This long-awaited bill narrowly passed the House of Representatives before heading to the Senate and was signed by President Biden on Saturday, March 23
