The clock was ticking ever so close to a shutdown when like magic (sarcasm) a deal was found and the shutdown was averted.  (Go figure)

The Senate passed a $1.2 trillion package of spending bills in the early morning hours Saturday, a long overdue action nearly six months into the budget year that will push any threats of a government shutdown to the fall. The vote was 74-24, per the AP. President Biden signed the legislation into law hours later, acknowledging that it won’t please everyone.

• 11th-hour save: The deal came after funding had expired for the agencies at midnight, but the White House sent out a notice shortly after the deadline announcing the Office of Management and Budget had ceased shutdown preparations because there was a high degree of confidence that Congress would pass the legislation and the president would sign it on Saturday.
• Details: While Congress has already approved money for Veterans Affairs, Interior, Agriculture and other agencies, the bill approved this week is much larger, providing funding for the Defense, Homeland Security, and State departments, as well as other aspects of general government. The House passed the bill Friday morning by a vote of 286-134, narrowly gaining the two-thirds majority needed for approval. More than 70% of the money would go to defense.
• Tensions: Prospects for a short-term government shutdown had appeared to grow Friday evening after Republicans and Democrats battled over proposed amendments to the bill. Any successful amendments to the bill would have sent the legislation back to the House, which had already left town for a two-week recess.
• Breakthrough: Shortly before midnight, however, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced, “It’s been a very long and difficult day, but we have just reached an agreement to complete the job of funding the government.” He added, “It is good for the country that we have reached this bipartisan deal. It wasn’t easy, but tonight our persistence has been worth it.”
• GOP strife: The vote breakdown showed 101 Republicans voting for the bill and 112 voting against it. Meanwhile, 185 Democrats voted for the bill and 22 against. The vote tally in the House reflected anger among Republicans over the content of the package and the speed with which it was brought to a vote. In a sign of conservative frustration, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., initiated an effort to oust Johnson as the House began the vote, but she held off on further action until the House returns in two weeks.
• Biden’s take: “This agreement represents a compromise, which means neither side got everything it wanted,” the president said in a statement, per the AP. “But it rejects extreme cuts from House Republicans and expands access to child care, invests in cancer research, funds mental health and substance use care, advances American leadership abroad, and provides resources to secure the border.”

The vote has the House all a tether….MTG has opened that very large mouth yet again…..

The U.S. House of Representatives started a two-week recess on Friday, but not before a series of events that provoked fresh declarations of what has become a familiar phrase over the past few years: “Republicans in disarray.”

Meanwhile, far-right Republicans like Texas Congressman Chip Roy have made comments like, “Everyone that I know and trust about the border, about overall spending, see it as a complete and total failure and a capitulation by Republicans. And leadership worked the deal, so it’s on leadership.”

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) not only opposed the package but also filed a motion to vacate, hoping to remove House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)—which would only require a simple majority if it came up for a vote.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/republican-house-speaker

Will we have yet another new Speaker of the House?

I love this stuff!

A prime example the games and the waste of time and energy that the Congress has become.

Can we please have some sanity in the Congress for a change?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”