03.23.24
Funding legislation strengthens America’s national security and invests in the American people—lowering families’ child care costs, protecting workers’ pocketbooks, investing in people’s health, supporting students, and much more
Rejects steep cuts and extreme Republican policy riders that would have set our country back decades
***WATCH: Senator Murray’s floor remarks after passage of the legislation***
Washington, D.C. – Today, the Senate voted 72-24 to send the final set of bicameral, bipartisan fiscal year 2024 appropriations bills to the President’s desk to be signed into law. The House cleared the package in an overwhelming 286-134 vote on Friday.
“We have finally passed all twelve bills to fund the government—and I’m proud to be sending a $1 billion increase in funding for child care and early learning programs to President Biden’s desk,”said Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.“President Biden will be signing a bipartisan bill that delivers on the investments that matter most in people’s daily lives—on everything from education to health care—and that is free of the devastating cuts and extreme riders pushed by House Republicans that would have sent our country back decades. Democrats stood firm and protected women’s reproductive freedoms from countless extreme attacks by House Republicans. I hope my House Republican colleagues now understand that bipartisanship is the only path forward in a divided government and that they continue to work with us—not against us—to deliver for the American people.”
Among other things, the $1.2 trillion funding package:
- Lowers child care costs for families and strengthens Head Start with a new $1 billion investment to help families in every zip code afford child care and help ensure Head Start can continue serving hundreds of thousands of kids each year.
- Invests in students at every stage of their education and sustains essential investments in our nation’s public schools by delivering resources for our public K-12 schools, Pell Grants, and more—and rejecting devastating cuts that would have forced teachers out of our nation’s K-12 classrooms.
- Keeps our country safe and supports our servicemembers and military families with essential investments in our national defense and important additional support for those who serve our country in uniform.
- Protects workers’ rights and helps ensure they get the paychecks they have earned by protecting funding for essential worker protection agencies and the National Labor Relations Board.
- Builds on our historic economic recovery and supports small businesses.
- Supports people’s health, strengthens the health care workforce, and guards against public health threats, rejecting dangerous cuts and sustaining all manner of investments in patients’ health.
- Propels cutting-edge biomedical research to discover and create new treatments and cures that save lives and give people more time with their loved ones.
- Invests in mental health care and research and strengthens the 988 lifeline—sustaining and building upon key investments made in recent years.
- Protects consumers and holds fraudsters and rich tax cheats accountable to help even the playing field and keep growing our economy from the middle out.
- Combats the flow of fentanyl, strengthens our detection and enforcement capabilities, and invests in substance use disorder treatment and prevention to address the opioid crisis that continues to devastate communities.
- Delivers critical resources to help meet operational needs at our southern border.
- Maintains America’s global leadership and upholds our commitments to our allies and partners to promote our own national security and strengthen our competitiveness.
- Supports our Afghan allies by authorizing an additional 12,000 Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) for Afghans who assisted the U.S. government during the war in Afghanistan.
- Increases base funding for humanitarian assistance to support the United States’ efforts to provide emergency food, shelter, water, and basic services to populations caught in conflict and crises across the globe.
More information on the six-bill package—including Congressionally Directed Spending—is available HERE. Text of the legislation is available HERE.
Bill summaries and explanatory statements accompanying each of the bills in the package are available below:
- Defense
- Bill Summary
- Explanatory Statement
- Financial Services and General Government
- Bill Summary
- Explanatory Statement
- Homeland Security
- Bill Summary
- Explanatory Statement
- Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
- Bill Summary
- Explanatory Statement
- Legislative Branch
- Bill Summary
- Explanatory Statement
- State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
- Bill Summary
- Explanatory Statement
More information on the first fiscal year 2024 appropriations package, which was signed into law on March 9, is available HERE.
As Appropriations Chair, Senator Murray pushed at every stage to write and negotiate the strongest possible bipartisan bills, protect investments in families and our country’s future, and fend off extreme House Republican riders and draconian cuts that would have set our country back decades.
Working alongside Senate Appropriations Vice Chair Susan Collins (R-ME), Senator Murray chaired the first full committee markup in two years last summer and successfully reported all twelve individual appropriations bills out of Committee for the first time in five years—and in overwhelming, often unanimous, votes.
Senator Murray’s remarks after passage of the legislation are below:
“M. President, there were a lot of naysayers who didn’t believe that this divided Congress could pass full-year appropriations bills.
“Tonight, we proved them wrong.
“We have finally passed all twelve bills to fund the government—and I am proud to be sending a $1 billion increase in funding for child care and pre-K to the President’s desk.
“M. President, as Chair of Appropriations, you have a responsibility—you help decide in a big way how to set the nation’s spending priorities.
“I wanted to write our bills to put working people—the parents I talk to all around my state who can’t find or afford child care—first.
“I remember when I drove 100 miles to Olympia, our state capitol, with my two young children to try and save my kids’ preschool program, and a state lawmaker told me I couldn’t make a difference—I was ‘just a mom in tennis shoes.’
“Well, this mom in Tennis Shoes is now the Senate Appropriations Chair, and M. President, I think it makes a difference when you have a former preschool teacher—and someone who lived what it means to be a working mom with young kids—holding the pen on our nation’s spending bills.
“So I decided child care had to be at the top of the country’s priorities, and this time it wasn’t going to get knocked off.
“M. President, I am so glad we are making this investment in our kids, families, and economy.
“But this bill delivers so much more. President Biden will be signing a bipartisan bill that delivers on the investments that matter most in people’s daily lives—on everything from Pell Grants to community health centers—and this funding is free of the devastating cuts and extreme riders pushed by House Republicans that would have sent our country back decades.
“And M. President from day one of this process, I said there would be no extreme, far-right riders to restrict women’s reproductive freedoms in these funding bills—not small, not big, none—and there are none.
“Democrats stood firm to protect a woman’s right to choose in these negotiations—beating back countless far-right policies from House Republicans to ban abortion and attack reproductive freedom in every way possible.
“Now, M. President these bills came about after some tough negotiations, but they will move our country forward.
“And I have to once again thank my Vice Chair Susan Collins for her partnership.
“We passed 12 bills with overwhelming bipartisan support last summer—and that was important. I think that bipartisanship and shared commitment to doing what was right for the country served us well in negotiating our final spending bills.
“I hope my House Republican colleagues now understand that bipartisanship is the only path forward in a divided government.
“I hope they understand that when you strike a deal, you have to stick to it. It has to mean something, and I hope that my House Republican colleagues will now continue to work with us—not against us—to deliver for the American people.
“Look, M. President, as Appropriations Chair, I am so glad to finally close the book on this year’s government funding.
“I am ready as ever to work with all of my colleagues as we determine what investments our country will make.
“Let’s keep working to help people and solve problems. Thank you, M. President.”
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