Draft:2024 United States federal government shutdown

The United States federal government is expected to shutdown from midnight EST on March 23, 2024. If a shutdown occurs, it will be the first during the presidency of Joe Biden.

Background
The 2022 midterm elections resulted in a narrow Senate majority for the Democratic Party and a House of Representatives majority for the Republican Party. In the 118th Congress, the Freedom Caucus congressional caucus, has secured a number of House of Representatives seats. Kevin McCarthy, leader of the House Republican Conference, was elected speaker of the House after several days of voting as opposition—primarily led by members of the Freedom Caucus—mounted against him; McCarthy conceded to his opponents to negotiate their support for his speakership.

In May 2023, McCarthy negotiated with president Joe Biden on a deal to resolve a debt-ceiling crisis and an imminent debt default. In response, Republicans, led by Matt Gaetz, blocked a bill protecting gas stoves against federal regulations in order to force McCarthy to choose between acquiescing to the insurgents and passing legislation that would face resistance in the Senate, or to work with Democrats and contend with a potential ousting. Grievances among Republicans quelled several days later after an agreement was made, but Freedom Caucus members threatened that a blockade could occur if their demands were not met.

On September 29, the House Committee on Rules convened to consider a continuing resolution to fund the federal government for an additional month with border security measures. The bill failed 198—232 in the House, with far-right Republicans defying McCarthy. The following day, hours before a shutdown was expected to occur, McCarthy announced that he would support a continuing resolution without aid for Ukraine. The House passed the bill under suspension of the rules a few hours later. Nearly the entire Democratic Caucus supported the resolution, and it was approved in the Senate.

As he had previously threatened to do if McCarthy put a clean continuing resolutions on the floor, Gaetz introduced a motion to vacate and it passed 216–210, with 8 Republicans and all Democrats voting yes, removing McCarthy as speaker. On October 25, Mike Johnson was elected as the Speaker of the House of Representatives by a vote of 220–209. Johnson implemented the strategy of passing individual appropriations, however only HR 4821, 4364 and 4394 passed the House before the budget deadline elapsed; a Continuing Resolution passed the House on November 14 with bipartisan support. The Senate passed the bill on November 15. The CR extends 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.

On February 29, the House passed a short-term continuing resolution extending the funding deadline to March 8 for the first four appropriations bills in the November and January CRs, and to March 22 for the rest. The bill passed the Senate as well on March 1, and was signed into law by President Biden later the same day.

On March 3, 2024, House and Senate appropriators released a "minibus" spending package containing six of the twelve appropriations bills. The bill provides funding for the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Energy, Interior, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development. It also provides appropriations for the EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers, and other military construction. Democrats cheered full funding for WIC programs and the lack of "poison pill" riders promoted by Republicans. Republicans cheered cuts to the FBI, ATF, and EPA, although Democrats contested the extent of the cuts. The rightmost faction of the Republican conference harshly opposed the deal, arguing it did not contain any substantial conservative policy; the proposal also drew criticism from some Democrats, who expressed concern over a provision allowing mentally incompetent veterans to buy guns in certain circumstances. The minibus deal passed the House on Wednesday, March 6, and the Senate on March 8; it was signed into law by President Biden on Saturday, March 9. The passage of the bill on coincided with two other major political events that week: Super Tuesday (on Tuesday, March 5) and 2024 State of the Union Address (on Thursday, March 7).

Shutdown
The potential shutdown would begin from midnight EST on March 23, 2024.