House To Vote On FY2024 Package 15:30 ET

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will hold a vote at 15:30 ET 20:30 GMT today on the first Fiscal Year 2024 multi-bill package. As the vote will be taken under suspension of rules, it will require a two-thirds bipartisan majority to pass. It will then be handed to the Senate where the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will push the package through with unanimous consent to avert a partial government shutdown at midnight on Friday.

• The 'minibus' is expected to pass with a large majority of Democrat votes and a smaller majority of Republican votes. A dynamic which will increase animosity between Johnson and hardline conservative Republicans, who pushed for a year-long Continuing Resolution which would have triggered major spending cuts on April 30.
• Despite months of acrimonious wrangling, four CRs, and one ousted speaker, the final package largely tracks with the spending agreement negotiated by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden last Spring in a deal to raise the debt ceiling.
• Senior Appropriator Tom Cole (R-OK), who also chairs the House Rules Committee, said: “Once [McCarthy] got a deal done, I’m sorry, the play has been called. You couldn’t pull it out, undo it, and start all over again.”
• Punchbowl News notes: “Late next week or early the following, if all goes according to plan, House and Senate leaders will roll out the final six spending bills — including the massive Pentagon, Labor-HHS and Homeland Security bills — for an up-or-down vote.”