The spending package to end the partial government shutdown was approved by lawmakers in the House Tuesday and signed into law by President Donald Trump (R) later that same day.
Although the House had already agreed to a set of spending bills last week, the package in the Senate was amended, meaning that it had to go back to the House for a final vote before it could be signed into law.
While the House had originally approved funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is responsible for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), alongside several other agencies, the Senate instead adopted a two-week continuing resolution for DHS amidst tense disagreement.
This move allowed the remaining spending bills to advance while buying time for lawmakers to negotiate a separate deal for the department.
Now that this package has been signed into law, most of the government has been successfully funded through September 30 of this year, but lawmakers will still be facing a countdown clock to reach an agreement for funding DHS, with their funding expiring on February 14.
Tuesday morning, the House narrowly voted in support of the updated spending package put forward by the Senate, approving it by a bipartisan margin of just 217-214.
21 Democrats and 21 Republicans crossed party lines in casting their votes for the Senate’s version of the spending package.
According to CBS News, Rep. Jared Golden (D) of Maine’s Second Congressional District was among the group of Democrats to break with their party to vote in support of the spending package.
This followed a tough procedural vote earlier in the day, as Democrat lawmakers refused to support bringing the package to the floor, and some Republicans had hoped to incorporate a vote on the voter ID measure known as the SAVE Act.
“Very important day,” said President Trump, referring to the spending package as he signed it into law.
“This bill is a great victory for the American people,” he said. “Instead of a bloated and wasteful omnibus monstrosity full of special interest handouts, we’ve succeeded in passing a fiscally responsible package that actually cuts wasteful federal spending while supporting critical programs for the safety, security and prosperity of the American people.”
