Congress will vote Friday on a $1.2 trillion, 1,000-plus page spending bill revealed Thursday just before 3:00 a.m.
The bill will start in the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will move the bill under “suspension of the rules.” Johnson repeatedly has used suspension of the rules — which requires two-thirds support but bypasses procedural opposition from conservatives — to advance legislation lacking broad Republican support. Suspension of the rules also enables Johnson to bypass a requirement that Congress receive at least 72 hours to review legislation before voting on it.
Johnson touted minimal (at best) conservative wins to a skeptical Republican Conference Wednesday morning — before the text of the deal was released — but conservatives were undeterred.
A frustrated Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said after that meeting that conservatives secured “nothing.”
If Congress does not pass the spending bill, a partial government shutdown will commence Saturday morning after midnight, although the effects of a shutdown will not truly be seen until Monday.
Johnson visited a weekly House Freedom Caucus meeting Tuesday night to make a personal appeal. On Monday, the conservative group led more than 40 Republicans in a letter to the House Republican Conference urging members to use the power of the purse to address the border crisis. Negotiations between Congress and the White House had been hung up over the border provisions in the six-bill minibus. Ultimately, Johnson consented to the White House’s request to prevent a continuing resolution in return for a few token wins.
The compromise increases detention beds available to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) despite ICE never filling the beds it had even during the height of the border crisis. It also permits Customs and Border Protection to hire more agents despite the agency’s failure to come close to fully staffing itself at currently permitted levels.
Rank-and-file members never had a real opportunity to weigh in on the legislation, and in a scenario all too familiar, they will now be asked to vote for a massive bill in which they have had no input or risk a government shutdown.
“It’s deja vu all over again,” Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), who led an effort to reform the budget and spending process, said on Mornings with Maria Thursday. “I think this is the sixth or seventh time we’ve had this overnight legislation. We’re supposed to look at it and then vote on it.”
Even before the text of the deal was released, Congressional leaders locked in the details. “Negotiations are done,” Rep. Rosa DeLaura (D-CT), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said Tuesday night in the Capitol when asked if members would have the opportunity to make changes.
If the House passes the bill Friday as expected, the Senate will take it up as soon as possible. Some Senators might hold up the vote in exchange for votes on amendments, although those are sure to fail.
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.