Congress rushes to approve $1.2 trillion spending package ahead of midnight deadline

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. Rep. Juan Ciscomani, of
Tucson, was the only Arizona Republican to join Democrats in voting for
the spending bill; Reps. Andy Biggs, Eli Crane, Debbie Lesko and David
Schweikert voted against it. Rep. Paul Gosar, the delegation’s other
Republican, was not present for the vote.

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.