Congressional negotiators were able to hammer out a deal to complete their final spending bill on Monday night, putting lawmakers in a time crunch as they work to avoid a partial government shutdown just days away. 

After days of lengthy negotiations and disagreements over border security policies, lawmakers were able to come to an agreement on how to allocate funds for the Department of Homeland Security late Monday, one day after they initially hoped to already have the bills published. However, details of the deal are not yet clear as legislative aides work to finalize the legislative text in the coming days, according to a source familiar with talks. 

That gives lawmakers only four working days to pass some sort of spending legislation through both chambers of Congress, and there are several obstacles between then and now. 

The House typically requires bill text to be available to lawmakers for 72 hours before it can be brought to the floor for a vote. Negotiators originally planned to release legislative text for the spending package Sunday afternoon, but those plans were delayed over disagreements on how to allocate funding for the DHS for the remainder of the fiscal year. 

If the 72-hour rule is adhered to, that means the spending deal wouldn’t reach the Senate until Friday at the earliest, just hours before the deadline. Leadership could skirt those rules, as former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) did last September. However, that decision helped lead to his eventual ouster. 

The Senate could then take it up as quickly, or as slowly, as it would like. If even one senator objects, it could delay passage for days before it’s brought to the floor for a final vote. 

Making things more complicated, a substantial number of House Republicans have already come out in opposition to the spending deal, even before the legislative text has been released. 

Reps. Bob Good (R-VA) and Chip Roy (R-TX), along with 41 other House Republicans, sent a letter pressing their GOP colleagues to oppose any spending legislation that does not include core components of the party’s signature border security bill that was passed by the lower chamber last summer. Instead, the group is threatening to withhold their support to leverage their “power of the purse” to undo some of the Biden administration’s border policies.

“There is an unprecedented assault on the safety of Americans and the sovereignty of our nation due to the ‘open borders’ policies of radical progressive Democrats led by President Joe Biden,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter, which began circulating on Monday. “The question for House Republicans, is what are we willing to do about it?”

It’s not yet clear what provisions are included in the DHS funding bill as text has not been released. Initially, lawmakers planned to move forward with a continuing resolution to keep DHS funding at the same fiscal 2023 funding levels for the remainder of fiscal 2024.

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But disagreements arose on how to allocate those funds, prompting the White House to threaten to veto the continuing proposal over the weekend, according to two sources familiar with the talks. As a result, House Republicans urged the White House to enter into negotiations between congressional Republicans and Democrats. 

Although a deal has been made, nothing is yet set in stone. If negotiations falter again, lawmakers may need to turn to another stopgap spending measure to avoid a lapse in funding, something that negotiators on both sides of the aisle have expressed opposition to.