The Senate cleared a second and final spending package in the wee hours of Saturday morning, bringing to a close the fiscal 2024 appropriations process nearly six months late.
The final 74-24 vote on the $1.2 trillion package capped roughly 12 hours of back-room negotiations over amendment votes that came close to dragging the process into Sunday or Monday. But Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., announced an agreement on amendment votes late Friday night that cleared a path for final passage.
“It wasn’t easy, but tonight our persistence has been worth it,” Schumer said in announcing the deal, which allowed the Senate to bypass procedural rules to speed up passage. Congress had been racing to complete work on the package in hopes of beating a Friday night deadline, when funding would lapse under a continuing resolution.
