The U.S. House passed a $1.2 trillion government spending bill, giving the Senate hours to clear it before a midnight deadline. (Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House approved a broadly bipartisan $1.2 trillion spending package Friday, sending the legislation to the Senate ahead of a midnight deadline.
Senators have just hours to clear the measure for President Joe Biden’s signature, otherwise parts of the federal government will begin a funding lapse early Saturday.
Meeting that benchmark will require agreement from all 100 senators, which could happen after Democratic and Republican leaders broker an agreement on amendment votes. None of those proposals, however, are likely to garner enough votes to be added to the bill, since that would require it to go back to the House, delaying enactment.
Once the Senate clears the bill, it will join the House on a two-week recess, before returning to Capitol Hill the week of April 8.
Biden in support
Biden is expected to sign the 1,012-page government funding package, which includes the final six annual appropriations bills that were supposed to become law nearly six months ago before the Oct. 1 start of the fiscal year.
The White House budget office wrote in a statement of administration policy released Thursday the administration was pleased the bill “rejects the extreme spending cuts and harmful riders proposed by House Republicans.”
“Instead, the bill expands access to affordable child care and supports early childhood education through Head Start, and includes critical investments in lifesaving cancer and Alzheimer’s research at the National Institutes of Health,” the statement says. “The bill also maintains important investments in mental health and substance use prevention and treatment.”
Congress released the package just before 3 a.m. Thursday after months of negotiations on the spending levels and policy throughout the measure.
The bill includes funding for the departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Labor, State and Treasury.
There is also spending for dozens of smaller entities, including Congress, the Executive Office of the President, the judiciary and the Social Security Administration.
Bipartisan backing
The House’s 286-134 vote to approve the legislation followed mostly bipartisan debate, though conservative Republicans railed against how much it would spend and the fact it didn’t include more policy changes. Reps. Lauren Boebert and Ken Buck, both Republicans, were the only two of the eight members of the House from Colorado who voted against the measure.
House Appropriations Chairwoman Kay Granger, a Texas Republican, said the package “strengthens our national security and funds critical defense efforts.”
“This package also includes other key priorities,” Granger said. “It continues our strong support of Israel, combats the flow of illegal drugs and fully funds medical research for cancer and chronic diseases.”
Connecticut Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro, ranking member on the spending panel, said the bills didn’t have everything either political party wanted, but said she was “satisfied that many of the extreme cuts and the policies proposed by House Republicans were rejected.”
“This bill sides with the hard-working majority of Americans, it helps to lower the cost of living, it protects women’s rights and access to reproductive health care, it reinforces America’s global leadership and it helps our communities be safe and secure,” DeLauro said.
Conservatives object over immigration
Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna was one of about a dozen conservatives who spoke out against the legislation, saying it didn’t go far enough to address illegal immigration.
“What we are seeing right now at the border is a rise in crime,” Luna said. “We are seeing these very communities being impacted by the rise in gang violence. And frankly, it’s been disgusting to watch crony capitalists push the importation of cheap labor.”
Luna then rebuked Tyson Foods over a federal investigation into whether the company, along with Perdue Farms, used immigrants without legal authorization to be in the country, including children as young as 13, to clean overnight.
Military pay and Israel aid
The six-bill government funding package included increases in funding to federal departments and programs important to each of the political parties as well as ones that regularly garner bipartisan support, though many programs face cuts as well.
The Defense Department would receive $824.5 billion, a $27.75 billion increase above its current funding level. That boost would go to numerous initiatives and programs, including a 5.2% pay raise for troops and civilian employees that would be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2024.
Within that Defense funding bill, $500 million would go to the Israeli Cooperative Missile Defense Program and $300 million would go to the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.
House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ken Calvert of California, said voting against the package “is a vote for China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and Hamas.”
“Every member must understand the impact of not passing this package,” Calvert said. “The only other option will be a full-year continuing resolution, which will devastate our national security and put our country at risk.”
Election security
The Financial Services and General Government bill would slightly reduce funding for the Treasury Department while keeping funding for the Internal Revenue Service flat. Spending on the Election Assistance Commission would receive a minor cut while lawmakers provided $55 million for Election Security grants.
Maryland Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer, ranking member on the FSGG spending subcommittee, said the bill was a “responsible compromise.”
That FSGG spending bill includes 17 pages of earmarks, also called community project funding or congressionally directed spending.
Among the projects is $3 million for the Alaska Federal Lands History Project, secured by Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski and nearly $1.5 million for Economic and Business Development Training for Lobstering Communities, secured by Maine’s Republican Sen. Susan Collins and independent Sen. Angus King.
Immigration funding
The Homeland Security bill boosts funding for Customs and Border Protection by $3 billion to $19 billion and funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement by $1.1 billion to $9.6 billion.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is housed within DHS, would receive a funding cut of $72.9 million, dropping its allocation to $25.3 billion.
That funding bill holds 18 pages of earmarks including $2.9 million for the Anderson County Emergency Operations Center in Tennessee, requested by GOP Rep. Chuck Fleischmann; $5 million for the City of Daphne Main Street Utility Relocation Project in Alabama, requested by Republican Sen. Katie Britt; and $3.5 million for the Williamsport Levee Flood Control Project in Pennsylvania, requested by Democratic Sen. John Fetterman and GOP Rep. Dan Meuser.
Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman David Joyce, an Ohio Republican, said the bill “ensures that men and women of the Department of Homeland Security, who work tirelessly on our behalf, have the resources and tools they need.”
“It reflects strong Republican priorities, cuts wasteful spending and prioritizes securing the border,” Joyce said. “We cannot surrender this progress for a wasteful and harmful government shutdown.”
Cuts for Labor, HHS, Education
The Labor-HHS-Education bill includes small but not insignificant spending reductions for all three departments funded in the bill, though some programs did receive increases.
The National Institutes of Health would receive a $300 million increase to $48.6 billion, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would get $4.5 million more for a funding level of $9.2 billion.
The legislation has a $1 billion increase in spending for child care and early learning programs. The Child Care and Development Block Grant would see its appropriation rise by $725 million to a total of $8.8 billion. The Head Start program’s funding would increase by $275 million to $12.3 billion.
That bill holds 103 pages of earmarks that would go to numerous programs, including HHS’ Administration for Children and Families, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration.
Legislative Branch boost
The Legislative Branch spending bill increases funding for the U.S. House by $3.4 million to nearly $1.9 billion and for the U.S. Senate by $104.2 million to almost $1.3 billion.
Joint congressional items — which include the Joint Economic Committee, Joint Committee on Taxation, Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, Office of the Attending Physician and Office of Congressional Accessibility Services — received an overall funding level of $28 million, $4.9 million more than the current appropriation.
The U.S. Capitol Police, which handles an increasing number of threats against members, would see its funding increase by $56.9 million to $791.5 million.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which publicly releases information on how much legislation would cost if enacted, would see its funding level rise by $6.8 million to $70 million.
Foreign aid
The State-Foreign Operations bill would appropriate nearly $58.4 billion, a $3.4 billion cut compared to current funding levels. The legislation blocks U.S. funding from going to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency through March 25, 2025 and zeroes out funding for the United Nations Commission of Inquiry against Israel.
The bill includes $6.1 billion for the foreign military financing program with $3.3 billion of that for Israel and $300 million for Taiwan.
State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Chairman Mario Díaz-Balart, a Florida Republican, said the bill is a “dramatic improvement” from current law.
“This bill reduces spending, it re-prioritizes funding towards our vital national security interests and carries crucial limitations and smart policy changes to rein in the Biden administration,” Díaz-Balart said. “And if this bill were to fail, we are giving carte blanche to the Biden bureaucracy.”
Additional reporting from States Newsroom on these six government funding bills can be found here. Details on the other six spending bills released earlier this month can be found here with coverage of that House vote here and the previous Senate vote here.
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