The House on Wednesday passed a $460 billion spending package that will keep money flowing to key federal agencies for the remainder of the budget year. The Senate is expected to take up the legislation ahead of Friday’s midnight closing deadline.
Lawmakers are negotiating a second six-bill package, including a defense bill, to fully fund all federal agencies before a March 22 deadline. Ultimately, the full-year discretionary spending set by Congress is expected to total about $1.66 trillion.
A large number of House Republicans lined up to oppose the spending package, forcing House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, to use fast-track procedures to bring the bill to a vote. The process requires two-thirds of the House of Representatives to vote for the measure to pass.
The House passed the measure in a vote of 339 to 85.
Non-defense spending in this year’s bill is relatively flat compared with the previous year. Supporters say keeping spending below inflation amounts to cutting spending, forcing agencies to be more frugal and focus their efforts on what matters most. Johnson said funding for the Environmental Protection Agency was cut by 10%, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was cut by 7%, and the FBI was cut by 6%.
But many Republican lawmakers are seeking deeper cuts and more policy wins. The House Freedom Caucus, made up of dozens of the party’s most conservative members, urged Republicans to vote against the first spending package and oppose the second one being negotiated.
“While Democrats have increased spending levels, the comprehensive text released so far bets on nearly every Republican policy priority,” the group said.
Johnson countered that House Republicans only have a two-vote majority in the House, while Democrats control the Senate and the White House.
“We have to be realistic about what we can achieve,” Johnson said.
Democrats rejected most of the add-ons that House Republicans tried to include in the plan. For example, they blocked an effort to expand new regulations to expand access to the abortion drug mifepristone.
Democrats also said the bill would fully fund nutrition programs for low-income women, infants and children, providing about $7 billion for the so-called WIC program. This is an increase of $1 billion from the previous year.
“This bill certainly didn’t include everything we might have wanted, but I’m very proud to say that we successfully defeated the vast majority of extreme cuts and hundreds of bills proposed by House Republicans,” said Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro “A harmful policy rider,” said the top-ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.
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 policy authorizes the Department of Justice from investigating parents who exercise free speech at local school board meetings.
Another provision strengthens gun rights for certain veterans.
Under current law, whenever a trustee is appointed to help manage someone’s benefits, the VA must send the name of the beneficiary to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System because they lack the mental capacity to manage their own affairs. . This year’s spending plan prohibits the department from passing on that information unless relevant judicial authorities rule that the beneficiary poses a danger to themselves or others.
The bill to fund federal agencies is more than five months overdue and the budget year is set to begin Oct. 1. Still, House Republicans are describing an improved process, saying they have broken the cycle in which lawmakers passed all spending bills in one massive package. There is little time to research before being asked to vote or risk a government shutdown.
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