Lawmakers presented a $1.2 trillion spending package on Thursday. This will help avoid a partial government shutdown for several important federal agencies this weekend and allow Congress to finish funding the government through September, almost six months into the budget year.
Democrats were able to push back many policy mandates and some of the larger budget cuts that House Republicans wanted for nondefense programs. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., mentioned some victories, including a nearly 24% increase in detention beds for migrants waiting for immigration proceedings or removal from the country.
This year’s spending bills were split into two packages. The first one passed Congress two weeks ago, just before the shutdown deadline for the agencies funded by the bills.
Now Congress is focusing on the second, larger package, which includes about $886 billion for the Defense Department, a more than 3% increase from last year. The 1,012-page bill also funds the departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Labor, and others.
“Congress must now rush to pass this package before government funding runs out this Friday,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Nondefense spending will remain relatively unchanged compared with the previous year, although some agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, will face cuts, and many agencies will not see their budgets keep up with inflation.
When combining the two packages, discretionary spending for the budget year will total about $1.66 trillion. This does not include programs such as Social Security and Medicare, and managing the country’s growing debt.
The House is expected to take up the measure first on Friday. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., encouraged Republicans to vote for the measure, noting that over 70% of the spending goes to defense.
“At a time when the world is in turmoil, it is more important than ever that we adequately fund our nation’s defense and support our troops,” Scalise said.
Then it would move to the Senate, where senators would need to agree to consider it quickly to avoid a partial shutdown. Typically, such agreements involve votes on proposed amendments to the bill.
Johnson described the bill as a serious commitment to strengthening national defense and expanding support for those serving in the military. The bill includes a 5.2% pay raise for service members.
In promoting the bill, Republicans mentioned several ways it would assist Israel. Most notably, they highlighted a ban on funding through March 2025 for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which is the main provider of food, water and shelter to civilians in Gaza.
Republicans are adamant about cutting off funding to the agency after Israel claimed that a dozen of its employees were involved in the attack that Hamas carried out in Israel on Oct. 7.
However, the ban does worry some lawmakers because many relief agencies say there is no way to replace its ability to deliver the humanitarian assistance that the United States and others are trying to send to Gaza, where one-quarter of the 2.3 million residents are starving.
Democrats stressed that global humanitarian aid will increase by about $336.4 million.
Sen. Patty Murray, the head of the Senate Appropriations Committee, also pointed out a $1 billion increase for Head Start programs and new child care centers for military families. Democrats also highlighted a $120 million increase in funding for cancer research and a $100 million increase for Alzheimer’s research.
Murray, a Democrat from Washington, said, “We stopped extreme cuts that would have severely affected American families and our economy.”
She added that Democrats successfully opposed many policy measures, known as riders, that House Republicans were trying to add.
“I stated from the beginning of this process that there would be no extreme, far-right riders to limit women’s reproductive freedoms — and there aren’t, she said.
Among the policy provisions that House Republicans did secure was a requirement that only allows for the American flag and “other official flags” to fly over U.S. diplomatic facilities. Under the Biden administration, U.S. embassies have been invited to fly the pride flag or light up with rainbow colors in support of the LGBTQ community.
There is also a provision that prevents the Consumer Product Safety Commission from banning gas stoves. But the White House has said President Joe Biden would not support a ban, and the commission, an independent agency, says no such ban was in the works.
The spending in the bill mostly aligns with an agreement that former Speaker Kevin McCarthy worked out with the White House in May 2023, which limited spending for two years and suspended the debt ceiling into January 2025 so the federal government could continue paying its bills.
Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told lawmakers Thursday that last year’s agreement, which became the Fiscal Responsibility Act, will save taxpayers about $1 trillion over the coming decade.
McCarthy, R-Calif., was removed from the speaker’s position a few months after securing the debt ceiling deal. Eight Republicans ultimately joined with Democrats in removing McCarthy as speaker. And some of those unhappy with that deal also expressed misgivings about the latest package.
“I hope there will be some modest wins. Unfortunately, I don’t expect that we will get much in the way of significant policy wins based on past history and based on our unwillingness to use any kind of leverage to force policy wins, meaning a willingness to walk away and say no,”, said Rep. Bob Good, R-Va.
Work on the spending bills has been more bipartisan in the Senate. Murray issued a joint statement after the bill’s release with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, urging colleagues to vote for it.
“There is zero need for a shutdown or chaos — and members of Congress should waste no time in passing these six bills, which will greatly benefit every state in America and reflect important priorities of many senators,”, Murray and Collins said.
Johnson said that after the spending package passes, the House would next turn its attention to a bill that focuses on aiding Ukraine and Israel, though lawmakers are scheduled to be away from Washington for the next two weeks. The Senate has already approved a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, but Johnson has declined to bring that up for a vote.
