By KEVIN FREKING (Associated Press)
Leaders from both political parties in Congress are trying to show a positive side to a $1.2 trillion spending plan that lawmakers are trying to approve before funding runs out at midnight on Friday for several important government agencies.
The details of the legislation were not available by Wednesday afternoon, but lawmakers and their assistants were anticipating an official presentation later in the day or early Thursday. The plan, which is likely to be approved, will complete Congress' work on spending bills for the year, nearly six months after the start of the fiscal year.
This year's twelve spending bills were combined into two packages. The first one was approved by Congress two weeks ago, just hours before the deadline for the agencies funded by the bills to shut down.
Now Congress is concentrating 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 similar to the previous year.
Leaders made efforts to persuade members to support the plan. During a private meeting with GOP lawmakers in the morning, Speaker Mike Johnson discussed some of the policy changes that House Republicans were able to negotiate in the latest talks. These included a ban on funding for a United Nations relief program for Palestinian refugees that lasts until March 2025. He also mentioned that the bill provides funding for 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.
Some House Republicans are upset about this, but following the rule would surely lead to a lapse in federal funding, even if only 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 preventing the vast majority of policy requirements that Republicans had wanted to include in the spending bills, such as limiting 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.”
The spending in the bill mostly follows an agreement that former Speaker Kevin McCarthy made with the White House in May 2023, which limited spending for two years and delayed the debt ceiling until January 2025 so the federal government could keep paying its bills.
“We've had to stick to some challenging spending limits and fight off hundreds of Republican amendments, as well as some really harsh, almost unthinkable, cuts proposed by House Republicans,” said Sen. Patty Murray, the Democratic chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “But now we have a good, bipartisan bill that protects absolutely essential investments in the American people.”
McCarthy was removed from the speaker’s role a few months after securing the debt ceiling deal. Eight Republicans ended up joining with Democrats in removing McCarthy as speaker. And some of those unhappy with that debt ceiling deal also expressed misgivings about the latest package.
Johnson is expected to bring the bill up for a vote through a streamlined process that requires two-thirds support for the bill to pass. The earlier spending package passed by a vote of 339-85 with Republicans providing all but two of the no votes.
“If this bill sits out for two weeks, it will get pilloried like a pinata,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas. “So they want to jam it through over the next 48 hours.”
“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 do use any kind of leverage to force policy wins, meaning a willingness to walk away and say no,” said Rep. Bob Good, R-Va.
One of the changes Johnson promoted for members was prohibiting — through March 2025 — funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which is the main provider of food, water and shelter to civilians in Gaza. Republicans are demanding to cut off funding to the agency after Israel alleged that a dozen employees of the agency were involved in the attack that Hamas conducted in Israel on Oc. 7.
The U.S. is the largest donor to the agency, providing it with about $364 million in 2022 and $371 million in 2023. After Israel made its allegations, the Biden administration paused funding for the agency. Republicans seek a more lasting prohibition.
But the prohibition does concern 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 a quarter of the 2.3 million residents are starving.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said in a recent speech on the Senate floor that any individual who participated in the Oct. 7 attack must be held responsible. But not innocent civilians.
“Punish the 14. Don’t punish 2 million innocent Gazans,” Van Hollen said.
But House Republicans are describing the agency as “part of the problem” that Israel is confronting. About three dozen wrote Appropriations Committee members saying, “in light of UNRWA’s record of troublesome allegations and disturbing revelations since Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, we believe that going forward no further U.S. taxpayer funds can be given to the agency.”
Johnson also mentioned to colleagues a 6% reduction in foreign aid programs and only permitting the American flag to be flown over U.S. diplomatic facilities as accomplishments, as per a Republican congressional aid not allowed to speak publicly. Under the Biden administration, U.S. embassies have been encouraged to display the pride flag or illuminate with rainbow colors to show support for the LGBTQ community.
Johnson stated that following the approval of the spending package, the House would then focus on a bill aimed at assisting Ukraine and Israel, despite lawmakers being scheduled to be away from Washington for the next two weeks. The Senate has already passed a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, but Johnson has chosen not to bring it up for a vote.
