Congress has passed, and President Biden has signed into law a “minibus” government funding bill that provides discretionary funding for six of the 12 required appropriations bills for fiscal year (FY) 2024. The new funding law, H.R.4366, does not include the industry-sought rider to prevent the Department of Labor (DOL) from further work on its proposed new fiduciary rule.

This first of two government funding bills had to be passed by March 8, or parts of the government would have to shut down. The House passed the $468.7 billion appropriations bill, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, on March 6 by a 339 to 85 vote. The Senate followed suit on March 8, approving the measure by a 75 to 22 vote.

.Prospects: This new law does not contain any “poison pill” policy riders and there is a concerted effort to prevent inclusion of controversial policy riders in the second government funding bill due on March 22. That means chances for including the fiduciary rule rider are not good. But the effort will continue until the effort to provide government funding for FY 2024 concludes.

NAIFA Staff Contacts: Diane Boyle – Senior Vice President – Government Relations, at dboyle@naifa.org; or Jayne Fitzgerald – Director – Government Relations, at jfitzgerald@naifa.org; or Michael Hedge – Senior Director – Government Relations, at mhedge@naifa.org.