The United States federal budget for fiscal year 2024 ran from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024.
The negotiations for FY 2024 were particularly contentious. The 2023 United States debt-ceiling crisis led to the passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, which capped discretionary spending in FY2024 and FY2025. Later, disagreements over the passage of an initial continuing resolution caused the removal of Kevin McCarthy as speaker and replacement with Mike Johnson. The process also saw repeated unsuccessful attempts to pass legislation by a straight party-line vote without minority involvement, which is unusual in American politics; however, there were also a few instances where the minority party supported a procedural rule vote, which is also unusual.
The federal government initially operated under a series of four temporary continuing resolutions that largely extended 2023 budget spending levels, as legislators were debating the specific provisions of the 2024 appropriations. The final appropriations were ultimately passed in a pair of bills approved in March 2024.
Background Beginning after the 2010 Congressional elections, the fiscally conservative Tea Party movement within the Republican Party came to power in opposition to Obama-era increases in government spending, most visibly due to Obamacare and the Troubled Asset Relief Program (although the latter actually ended up providing a profit to the federal government). This led to the formation of the Freedom Caucus in January 2015 by a group of conservatives and Tea Party movement members, with the aim of pushing the Republican leadership to the right.
The 2022 midterm elections resulted in a narrow Democratic Party majority in the U.S. Senate and a narrow majority for the Republican Party in the House of Representatives for the 118th Congress. The Freedom Caucus congressional caucus secured 45 House seats. Kevin McCarthy, leader of the House Republican Conference, was elected speaker of the House following several days after an unprecedented 15 ballots following opposition in the Republican caucus, primarily led by members of the Freedom Caucus. In order to secure the speakership, McCarthy was forced to make concessions to opponents including allowing any single member of Congress to trigger a motion to vacate. Members of the Freedom Caucus were also given influential committee positions, including three on the Rules Committee. With four Democrats as the minority members, that meant any bill that the Freedom Caucus strongly opposed could be blocked from advancement to the floor, as three votes against would result in a 7-7 tie and a defeated motion.
Budget legislation The Biden administration budget proposal was released in March 2023.
During the 2023 United States debt-ceiling crisis, McCarthy was forced to negotiate with Democratic President Joe Biden in order to resolve the crisis with a bill that would pass the Democrat controlled United States Senate and would not be vetoed. Economists said it would be "catastrophic" if the debt ceiling was not raised. The negotiations resulted in the bipartisan Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, which capped discretionary spending in FY2024 and FY2025, and increased work requirements for SNAP recipients.What to know about the Mountain Valley Pipeline in the debt ceiling deal NPR
The deal was opposed by members of the House Freedom Caucus who believed that the bill was not conservative enough. Two members of the Freedom Caucus voted with Democrats in an attempt to block the act in the Rules Committee, but failed by one vote. On May 31, in a procedural rule vote on the House floor, which historically is supported by all members of the majority party and opposed by minority members regardless of their position on the underlying bill, 29 conservative Republicans opposed the vote. In order to ensure the bill's passage, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries held up a green card to alert Democrats they could vote in favor of the measure, resulting in 52 Democrats showing their support for the procedural vote. A majority of both the Republican and Democratic parties voted for final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, but more Republicans (71) voted against the bill than Democrats (46).
Following the passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 11 angry members of the Freedom Caucus voted with Democrats to block a procedural rules vote on a Republican bill that would hinder the federal government's ability to regulate gas stoves. Freedom Caucus members said the vote was a protest of McCarthy's handling of the debt-ceiling crisis. On June 12, 2023, the Freedom Caucus and McCarthy reached an agreement that resulted in the Freedom Caucus not blocking procedural votes in exchange for conservative legislation being brought to the floor.
Continuing resolutions Summer 2023 shutdown concerns
Negotiations for funding the federal government for the 2024 fiscal year began in July, with Republicans demanding to cut government spending. Rosa DeLauro, the ranking member of the House Committee on Appropriations, stated that Republican opposition would ultimately result in a government shutdown. The Senate Committee on Appropriations remained committed to securing a deal according to ranking members Patty Murray and Susan Collins.
In a show of austerity, members of the Freedom Caucus threatened to refuse to hold a vote on two spending bills supported by McCarthy in July 2023; representative Bob Good stated that members should not "fear a government shutdown". Republicans in the House of Representatives abandoned efforts to fund the Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that month but narrowly passed a bill to fund veterans programs and military construction projects. In particular, Republicans sought to include language that reversed an FDA ruling allowing the oral abortion pill mifepristone to be sold in retail pharmacies. In August, Trump was federally indicted for attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election, further complicating efforts to fund the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to a temporary spending bill with McCarthy to avert a shutdown that month. McCarthy argued that a shutdown could prevent the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability from investigating the Biden family, but some Republicans remained dismissive.
House Republicans began considering a temporary bill to fund the government on September 17, but were met with opposition from within the party. However, by then the federal government appeared poised to shut down. The Freedom Caucus stated its opposition to any bill that would not include a border measure that revives Trump-era policies, including constructing the Trump border wall, detaining asylum seekers for longer, and deporting unaccompanied minors, while many hardliners maintained their oppositions to any continuing resolutions to keep the government open. Despite the earlier agreement, in September 2023, Freedom Caucus members once again began joining with Democrats to block procedural rule votes. On September 19 and September 21, five members of the Freedom Caucus, voted with Democrats to block a vote on a military funding bill. Additionally, some hardliners threatened to depose McCarthy if he turned to Democrats to gather more votes. Bowing to resistance, McCarthy pulled a Pentagon funding bill that month. In spite of these actions, McCarthy remained optimistic and appeased his opponents.
September 2023 continuing resolution
On September 26, the Senate reached a tentative spending deal for a temporary continuing resolution to fund the government through November, but the bill would not be able to pass before a shutdown due to a filibuster by Senator Rand Paul over aid to Ukraine. McCarthy opposed the deal, telling his conference that he would not put the Senate bill on the House floor. On September 29, twenty-one Freedom Caucus members joined with Democrats to block the continuing resolution which included spending cuts and immigration restrictions, by a vote of 198—232. Far-right Republicans defied McCarthy, with Freedom Caucus members who voted against the resolution said they would not support a temporary spending bill under any circumstance.
In order to avert a government shutdown, McCarthy struck a deal with Democrats for a bipartisan continuing resolution that kept funding at 2023 levels but did not include aid to Ukraine. The bill was passed under suspension of the rules, which allowed McCarthy to bypass procedural rules votes but required a two-thirds majority to pass the resolution. The bill passed in a 335–91 vote, with 90 Republicans and 1 Democrat voting against it.
Aftermath: replacement of McCarthy with Johnson as speaker
Angry over the passing of the bipartisan continuing resolution, Republican representative Matt Gaetz on October 2 filed a motion to vacate the chair, forcing a vote on McCarthy's removal within two legislative days. It passed it passed 216–210, with 8 Republicans joining every Democrat to oust McCarthy from the speakership.
Afterwards, Republicans took 22 days to replace McCarthy, during which Freedom Caucus members refused to support the conference nominations of Steve Scalise and then Tom Emmer while moderate Republicans refused to support the conference nomination of Jim Jordan. During this time, Patrick McHenry—a McCarthy ally—was made speaker pro tempore, and the House did not pass any legislation as it was obligated to resolve the speaker election. On October 7, the Gaza war broke out, and the House was also unable to pass any resolutions or military aid to Israel because of the lack of House leadership. During some of the GOP balloting discussions, proposals emerged for extending the CR to April 2024 and mandating a 1% across-the-board cut. Ultimately, Mike Johnson was elected Speaker of the House with unanimous support from the Republican conference, by a vote of 220–209.
Following the vote to oust McCarthy, Jeffries penned an opinion column in The Washington Post calling for a "bipartisan governing coalition" in which he pitched a path for consensus legislation that could not be blocked by a "small handful of extreme members" when large swaths of the House supported a bill. While a coalition was never officially formed, Democrats became crucial votes for several bills between the end of 2023 and September 2024.
November 2023 continuing resolution
Johnson implemented the strategy of passing individual appropriations, however only HR 4821, 4364 and 4394 passed the House before the budget deadline elapsed.
A second continuing resolution passed the House on November 14 with bipartisan support, with 93 Republicans and 2 Democrats voting against the resolution. The Senate passed the bill on November 15. It extended funding for four appropriations bills—Transportation/Housing and Urban Development, Military Construction/Veterans Affairs, Energy/Water, and Agriculture/Rural Development/Food and Drug Administration—until January 19, 2024, with the remaining bills extended until February 2.
The continuing resolution once again led to retaliation from Freedom Caucus members. On November 15, 19 Freedom Caucus members joined with Democrats to block a rule vote on a bill funding the Justice Department.
January 2024 continuing resolution