WASHINGTON Congressional leaders from both parties looked to put a positive light on a $1.2 trillion spending package that lawmakers are working to approve before funding expires at midnight Friday for a host of key government agencies.
Text of the legislation had not been released as of Wednesday afternoon, but lawmakers and aides were expecting an official unveiling early Thursday. The package, which is expected to pass, will wrap up Congress’ work on spending bills for the year — nearly six months after the fiscal year began.
This year’s dozen spending bills were packed into two packages. The first one cleared Congress two weeks ago just hours before a shutdown deadline for the agencies funded through the bills.
Now Congress is focused on the second, larger package, which includes about $886 billion for defense, about a 3% increase from last year’s levels. The bill also funds the Departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Labor and others, with non-defense spending expected to be relatively flat compared to the prior year.Leaders worked to sell the package to members. In a closed-door meeting with GOP lawmakers in the morning, Speaker Mike Johnson described a few of the policy changes that House Republicans were able to secure in the latest negotiations. Those included a prohibition on funding for a United Nations relief program for Palestinian refugees that extends through March 2025. He also noted the bill funds 8,000 additional detention beds for noncitizens awaiting their immigration proceedings or removal from the country.
“The Homeland (Security) piece was the most difficult to negotiate because the two parties have a wide chasm between them,” Johnson said at the GOP leadership’s weekly press conference. “I think the final product is something that we were able to achieve a lot of key provisions in, and wins, and it moved in a direction that we want even with our tiny, historically small majority.”
The House is expected to vote on the second package on Friday, giving lawmakers more than a day to examine the legislation, but in doing so, leadership is bypassing a House rule that calls for giving lawmakers 72 hours to review major legislation before having to vote on it.
That is riling some House Republicans, but following the rule would surely invite some lapse in federal funding, even if just for a day or so, for several key federal agencies.
Once the bill passes the House, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. said he will put it on the Senate floor.
“Even with bipartisanship, it’s going to be a tight squeeze to get this funding package before the weekend deadline,” Schumer said.
Democrats celebrated staving off the vast majority of policy mandates Republicans had sought to include in the spending bills, such as restricting access to the abortion pill mifepristone or banning access to gender-affirming health care.
“We’re exactly in the position that we knew we were going to end up,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar D-Calif. “We knew that House Democrats, Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans and the White House weren’t going to tolerate any significant harmful cuts and crazy policy riders.”
