How Johnson picked up wins and losses with last-minute spending bill

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) walked away from a last-minute minibus spending bill to avert a government shutdown on his watch with a few cuts and bruises to go with the victory.

Released just after 3 a.m., the $1 trillion, 1,012-page minibus marks the end of a nearly yearlong saga to fund the government. After such a long period of negotiations, Johnson had to settle for accomplishing some of his aims while ceding defeat in others.

Here are Johnson’s wins and losses in the 2024 spending bill.

The House Republican summary of the bill touted several victories on border security, including $496 million to hire 22,000 Border Patrol agents, the highest level of funding for said purpose so far. Several hundred million dollars were also allocated for technology to strengthen the border — $283.5 million of increased funding for acquiring new border security technology, as well as the restoration of $103.4 million for shortfalls in existing border security technology, such as autonomous surveillance towers and tunnel detection. This represents a 25% increase in spending on border technology.