Congressional negotiators have struck a deal on how to fund the government for the remainder of FY24, ending a brutal political fight that has dragged on for almost a year.
In the coming days, lawmakers are expected to release text of a "minibus" appropriations package combining six separate funding bills, which will then need to pass votes in the House and Senate before being signed into law by President Biden. The previous six, making a total of 12, were passed earlier this month.
The announcement comes after multiple sources told Fox News Digital that five of six bills were ready as of Monday, but that disagreements remained over legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
A senior House GOP leadership aide said the remaining issues, which they said involved funding levels and policy, were resolved as of Monday night.
"An agreement has been reached for DHS appropriations, which will allow completion of the FY24 appropriations process. 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," Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., announced on Tuesday morning.
The tranche of bills will include funding for the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, State Department and foreign operations, the legislative branch, Health and Human Services and the Department of Education.
House lawmakers on the GOP whip team were told to expect possible votes on the minibus Thursday or Friday, a source familiar with the discussions told Fox News Digital.
The topic of how to fund the government has fractured the House GOP's perilously thin majority. Republican hardliners have called for leveraging a government shutdown in order to force the Democrat-controlled Senate and White House to agree to conservative policy wins. They have even tried to weaponize normally-sleepy procedural votes to halt House floor proceedings and embarrass members of their own party by tanking Republican messaging bills.
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A government shutdown – even a partial one – could lead to the furloughs of thousands of federal workers and abruptly pause dozens of critical federal programs. The political fallout of shutdowns has historically impacted both Democrats and Republicans negatively.
However, while a tentative deal has been reached, the fight appears far from over. On Monday night, House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good, R-Va., and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, led 41 other House Republicans in a letter urging colleagues to vote against any funding package with money for DHS that does not also include elements of the GOP's border security bill known as H.R. 2.
That bill, with provisions like Remain In Mexico and which would vastly expand border agents' expulsion authority, has been deemed a nonstarter by Democrats.
"The House must put forth an appropriations measure that forces the inclusion of the core elements of H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, ends funding of trafficking, and prohibits non-citizens from voting in federal elections, otherwise Republicans will be actively funding Biden’s ‘open borders’ policies," the letter reads. "[W]e ask you to join us in rejecting the appropriations package (or anything similar) slated to be before the House that will directly fund these disastrous policies, and choose instead to stand against this assault on the American people."
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House GOP leaders will likely avoid any procedural hurdle that would risk sinking the bill and instead are expected to fast-track it via suspension of the rules, putting the package directly on the House floor for a vote in exchange for raising the threshold for passage to two-thirds instead of a simple majority.
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There, it will likely get enough Democratic and Republican votes to pass before moving to the Senate.
However, Johnson is also up against a promise made by House GOP leadership before he ascended to the speakership – a vow to give lawmakers 72 hours to review a given bill. If Johnson does not side-step those rules, the earliest a Tuesday release would permit a vote is Friday.
