Congress unveiled its first appropriations package on Sunday, teeing the legislation up for a vote sometime this week before federal funding is set to lapse for a slate of government agencies on Friday.
The legislation, referred to as a “minibus” package, combines funding for six of the government’s must-pass spending bills ahead of the first shutdown deadline later this week and adheres to the $1.59 trillion topline number that was negotiated between House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) earlier this year.
The minibus, which funds the government through the rest of the fiscal year, includes funding for Agriculture; Military Construction and Veterans Affairs; Transportation, Housing and Urban Development; Energy and Water; Interior and Environment; and Commerce, Justice, and Science.
The proposed package includes a number of spending cuts, including a 10% decrease in funding to the Environmental Protection Agency, a 7% decrease in funding to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and a 6% decrease in funding to the FBI.
A provision that would prohibit the Department for Veteran’s Affairs from flagging a veteran to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check without consent from a judge — a huge policy win for Republicans — is also included in the package.
Alternatively, the minibus would increase funding for the Drug Enforcement Agency’s efforts to combat the rise in fentanyl overdoses nationwide.
“Even with divided government and a historically small House majority, House Republicans have worked hard to successfully move the policy and spending priorities of the federal government away from the previous Pelosi-Schumer FY23 appropriations, and American taxpayers will benefit from it,” Johnson said in a statement. “House Republicans secured key conservative policy victories, rejected left-wing proposals, and imposed sharp cuts to agencies and programs critical to the President Biden’s agenda.”
The bill text comes after congressional leaders reached a deal on government spending last week to extend the deadline for the first six appropriations bills until Friday. The remaining six, which are still under negotiation, are set to expire on March 22.
Schumer celebrated the agreement in a statement, saying it was “good news” and calling for the House to “quickly” pass the package in order to send it to the Senate.
“We are proud to be keeping the government open without cuts or poison pill riders,” said Schumer. “The clock is now ticking until government funding runs out this Friday. Between now and the end of the week, the House must quickly pass and send the Senate this bipartisan package.”
Under House rules, legislative text must be available for at least 72 hours before lawmakers can vote on the bill, meaning it could be brought to the floor in the lower chamber as early as Wednesday. The package will be brought to the floor under suspension, meaning it will require two-thirds support in order to pass the lower chamber.
The package would then need to pass in the Senate before being sent to President Joe Biden for his signature.
The decision to advance the six appropriations bills comes in a reversal of Republican leadership’s earlier stance that all spending legislation must be voted on individually. Republicans have long criticized Democrats for packaging appropriations bills into one large piece of legislation, which is referred to as an omnibus package.
However, Johnson framed the minibus as a win for the GOP, arguing the six-bill package has broken the Congress “omnibus fever.” The smaller package marks the first time since 2018 that Congress will not be passing its budget through an omnibus bill.
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Republicans have also pointed to a number of other policy wins tucked into the minibus package, including a measure to prohibit the Justice Department from targeting or investigating parents who have been reported for threatening teachers at school board meetings.
GOP leaders are also touting policies that would prevent the sale of oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China and strengthen the review process of foreign ownership of agricultural land in the United States, among other things.
