Washington — The House is voting Wednesday on a major funding package ahead an end-of-week deadline to avert a partial shutdown, with lawmakers looking to bring an end to a spending saga that has stretched on for months.
Congressional leaders unveiled a six-bill spending package on Sunday, finalizing a bipartisan plan to fund the government that was unveiled last week. The package, which is the first of two to resolve the government funding issue, largely extends spending levels through September with some cuts, which Democrats accepted to stave off GOP policy changes. The agreement gave both parties something to tout.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer celebrated the deal, saying it “maintains the aggressive investments Democrats secured for American families, American workers, and America’s national defense.” He pointed to key wins for Democrats within the package, like the WIC nutrition program, along with investments in infrastructure and programs for veterans.
Speaker Mike Johnson likewise portrayed the agreement as a win, saying that House Republicans “secured key conservative policy victories, rejected left-wing proposals, and imposed sharp cuts to agencies and programs” that he says are critical to President Biden’s agenda, like the Environmental Protection Agency and the FBI.
Work on the package kicks off in the House, where lawmakers are voting under suspension of the rules on Wednesday due to ongoing opposition from some House conservatives. With a sharply divided and narrow GOP majority in the chamber, getting anything passed has proven to be a difficult task. Accordingly, Johnson will have to seek the help of Democrats, since passage would require the backing of two thirds of the House.
The conservative House Freedom Caucus came out in opposition to the funding package on Tuesday, saying in a statement that the text released so far “punts on nearly every single Republican policy priority” while giving away GOP leverage.
The vote comes as Congress has struggled for months to find a long-term government funding solution. Since the start of the fiscal year, lawmakers have had to rely on four funding patches to keep the government operating, the latest of which came last week. And they won’t be out of the woods just yet with the six-bill funding package.
Friday’s deadline to fund the government is the first of two. Congress must also pass the remaining six appropriation bills — which pose greater obstacles — by March 22.
The second tranche of spending bills includes funding for agencies like the Department of Defense, a process which has historically been more controversial.
For months, conservatives have pushed for policy riders to be embedded within the funding legislation. While the policies were largely left out of the first group of spending bills, they may pose issues for the second.
Adding to the pressure to approve the remaining funding bills in a timely manner, Congress must pass all of the spending bills before the end of April in order to avoid 1% across-the-board spending cuts under an agreement made during the debt ceiling talks last year. The automatic cuts were put in place to incentivize Congress to approve the funding bills for federal agencies in a timely manner.
With the vote expected to pass on Wednesday, Congress could be one step closer to putting the government funding issue that has plagued them for months to bed — at least for now.