The Senate this week passed an appropriations “minibus,” or group of bills, to fund FY2024 Agriculture, Military Construction/Veterans’ Affairs, and Transportation/HUD.
Typically, the House must first pass appropriations bills, as mandated by the Constitution. As of now, the House has passed six bills, but not the three included in the Senate minibus. So the Senate found a workaround by taking a procedural vote that replaced the House-passed Military Construction/VA bill with the three Senate appropriations bills listed above.
Each of the bills passed the Senate Appropriations Committee by unanimous votes earlier this year.
The Senate’s bills adhered to spending levels agreed to by the White House and Congress in the debt limit deal struck earlier this year. The House has sought lower spending levels in its bills passed so far, so conference will be necessary to hash out differences between the spending levels.
