Washington —

Congressional leaders on Sunday introduced a package of six bills that would set full-year spending levels for some federal agencies, delayed by sharp political differences between the two parties and infighting among House Republicans. A step forward in the long-awaited financing process.

The text of the legislation, released over the weekend, is designed to meet House rules that give lawmakers at least 72 hours to study a bill before a vote. It’s a hopeful sign that lawmakers will avoid a partial shutdown of agencies covered by the bill, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Transportation, Justice and others, starting at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

Congressional leaders hope to complete votes on the package this week and continue negotiations on the remaining six annual spending bills in order to pass them before the March 22 deadline. The package unveiled Sunday has a price tag of about $460 billion, less than 30% of the discretionary spending Congress is expected to approve this year. The package still under negotiation includes defense spending.

House Speaker Mike Johnson highlighted some key policy and spending victories for conservatives, even as many of his Republican colleagues believe the changes don’t go far enough. Some House Republicans had hoped the prospect of a government shutdown would prompt more concessions from Democrats.

Overall, this year’s spending bill would keep non-defense spending relatively flat with last year’s bill despite rising inflation and would be about $70 billion less than what President Joe Biden initially sought.

“House Republicans scored key conservative policy victories, rejecting left-wing proposals and enacting deep cuts to agencies and programs critical to President Biden’s agenda,” Johnson said in a prepared statement.

Earlier this year, Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced an agreement on a maximum level of discretionary spending this year that would exceed $1.6 trillion. But the agreement does not address potential policy authorizations in the bill. This has been the focus of negotiations in recent weeks.

Democrats avoided most of the policy riders House Republicans tried to include. For example, they resisted efforts to overturn the FDA’s decision to allow the abortion drug mifepristone to be sold in retail pharmacies, not just in hospitals, clinics and medical offices. Democrats also said the bill would fully fund a nutritional program for low-income women, infants and children called WIC, providing about $7 billion for the program, an increase of $1 billion from the previous year.

Schumer expressed support: “Throughout the negotiations, Democrats fought tooth and nail to prevent cuts to housing and nutrition programs and exclude harmful provisions that would further limit women’s access to health services or roll back the progress we’ve made on fighting climate change. “Legislation.

However, House Republicans scored some policy victories. For example, one provision would ban the sale of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China.

Another provision strengthens gun rights for certain veterans. Under current law, whenever a trustee is appointed to help administer someone’s benefits, the Veterans Administration is required to send the beneficiary’s name to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System. This year’s spending plan prohibits the Veterans Administration from passing on that information unless appropriate jurisdictions rule that the beneficiary poses a danger to themselves or others.

Still, some of the more conservative members of House Republicans have been critical of the spending bill, with many voting against the short-term extension passed by Congress last week that averted a government shutdown and allowed negotiations to continue.

“We all promised when we got here we weren’t going to do this crap,” Republican Rep. Eric Burlison said during discussion of a short-term extension. “For years, the American people have been demanding responsible spending and border security, but we have failed to deliver. When will we heed the call of our voters, rein in wasteful spending, secure our borders, and defeat the bureaucracy that targets them? “

Last week’s short-term extension was the fourth in recent months. The vote to approve the bill was 320 to 99, but House Republicans were split, 113 in favor and 97 against. The Senate approved the extension 77-13.

The vote on the spending bill comes five months into the budget year.