U.S. Congress rushes to approve spending bill ahead of government shutdown deadline

Lawmakers on Friday raced to pass the final spending package needed for this budget year, a long-overdue move that would fund federal agencies and delay the threat of any government shutdown until the fall.

With spending from several major federal agencies set to expire at midnight on Friday, the House and Senate are expected to take up a $1.2 trillion measure that would combine six annual spending bills into a single package. More than 70% of the funds will be used for national defense.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, is introducing the bill in a streamlined process that would require two-thirds support for approval.

“It’s going to pass,” Johnson said of how leadership builds support for a bill. “We’re drafting it and I expect there will be a good number.”

While lawmakers may miss the midnight deadline to fund the government — and Senate action could take time — the actual impact would be minimal. Since most federal workers are off work over the weekend and many government services are funded through early legislation, the shutdown will largely pass without a hitch unless things drag on to Monday.

Lawmakers are splitting this fiscal year’s spending bill into two parts as House Republicans chafe at an annual practice that requires them to vote for an annual practice with little time to review a large and complex bill or face the administration. close the door.

Lawmakers are approaching the finish line just six months into the fiscal year, slowed by conservatives pushing for more policy authorizations and deeper spending cuts than the Democratic-led Senate or the White House would consider. this process. As negotiations continue, the impasse requires several short-term, stopgap spending bills to keep agencies funded.

The first full-year spending bill, which funds the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture and Interior, among others, was approved by Congress two weeks ago with just hours left before funding for those agencies expired. Now, lawmakers are considering a second option in a similar situation.

The House of Representatives will vote first. Party leaders pointed to a defense spending increase of more than 3% as one of the reasons Republicans should vote for it. The bill funds a 5.2% pay increase for service members.

“As the world is at war, it is more important than ever that we ensure our nation’s defense is properly funded,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana. And support our troops.”

The 1,012-page bill also provides funding for the Departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Labor and other departments.

Non-defense spending will be relatively flat compared with the previous year, although some agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, are taking a hit and many agency budgets will not be able to keep pace with inflation.

Combining the two programs would bring discretionary spending to about $1.66 trillion in the budget year. That doesn’t include programs like Social Security and Medicare, or plans to finance the country’s growing debt.

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., said he expected more Republicans to vote against the second spending package than the first. That’s because Johnson failed to comply with a House rule that gives lawmakers 72 hours to review a bill before voting on it.

But adhering to the 72-hour rule will result in a disruption to government funding for many critical agencies. Some lawmakers also objected to some of the projects lawmakers secured for their congressional districts in the bill, often called earmarks.

Meanwhile, more Democrats are also likely to vote against the second spending bill because of provisions involving Israel and border policy.

House Republicans secured a provision that would block funding until March 2025 for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the main supplier of food, water and shelter to civilians in Gaza.

Republicans insisted on cutting off funding to the agency after Israel accused a dozen of its employees of participating in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack in Israel.

But the ban does raise concerns among some lawmakers, as many aid agencies say there is no way to replace the ability of the United States and other countries to try to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, where a quarter of the 2.3 million residents are starving. .

Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said the provision poses some problems for Democratic members, but she also noted that Democrats generally have access to more humanitarian aid. It would be about $336 million higher than the previous year’s level.

“I think we’re going to get there,” DeLauro said of Friday’s vote.

In an effort to win support from Republicans, Johnson also announced some spending increases to add about 8,000 detention beds for immigrants awaiting immigration proceedings or being deported. This is an increase of approximately 24% from current levels. Additionally, Republican leadership has emphasized the need for more funding to hire approximately 2,000 Border Patrol agents.

Democrats, meanwhile, are touting $1 billion more for Head Start and new child care centers for military families. They also announced an increase of $120 million for cancer research and $100 million for Alzheimer’s research.

“We defeated those outlandish cuts that were a crushing blow to American families and our economy,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

The spending in the bill is largely in line with a May 2023 agreement former Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached with the White House that limited spending for two years and suspended the debt ceiling until January 2025 to allow the federal government to You can continue to pay your bills.

Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told lawmakers on Thursday that last year’s deal, which became the Fiscal Responsibility Act, would save the federal government about $1 trillion over the next decade.

Members of both parties expressed frustration that the process took so long and that the end result was exactly what many predicted. They have been warning that Republicans would not get the supermajority policy mandates they seek or deeper spending cuts than what McCarthy and the White House agreed to last year.

“We stayed within the caps negotiated by Kevin McCarthy. That will always be the reality,” said Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska. “People are living in a dream world, thinking, ‘Well, we’re going to do something different than what McCarthy agreed with the president.'”

Months after reaching the debt ceiling deal, McCarthy, a California Republican, was ousted as speaker. Eight Republicans eventually joined Democrats in ousting McCarthy as speaker. Some people unhappy with the deal are also unhappy with the spending package.

“I don’t know if they have the votes to pass this bill. We’ll see,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. “I’m working hard to get the votes to repeal it.”