Top lawmakers on Tuesday unveiled a sprawling spending package that would keep the government open through next fall after reaching a compromise on billions of dollars in federal spending, including more emergency aid to Ukraine.
The legislation would increase federal spending from the last fiscal year, providing $858 billion in military spending and more than $772 billion for domestic programs for the remainder of the fiscal year that ends in September, according to a summary released by Senate Democrats. With Republican support needed for the measure to pass the Senate, Democrats bowed to conservative opposition to approving a larger increase that would have kept funding levels equal for health, education and other domestic programs that President Biden and his party have prioritized.
The release of the legislation came around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, days before a midnight Friday deadline to fund the government or face a shutdown, after lawmakers passed a one-week stopgap funding bill last week to give themselves more time to discuss the bigger spending package.
The measure is the last opportunity for Democrats to shape the federal budget while their party controls both chambers of Congress and for several retiring lawmakers to push a final round of pet projects into law. With Republicans set to take control of the House — and vowing to force deep spending cuts — lawmakers in both parties were eager to finish the compromise and remove one possible threat of political brinkmanship.
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“The choice is clear: We can either do our jobs and fund the government, or we can abandon our responsibilities without a real path forward,” said Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, calling the bill “undoubtedly in the interest of the American people” in a statement early Tuesday.
Given that the 4,155-page package is the final, must-pass legislation for this Congress, lawmakers stuffed it with dozens of funding priorities and unrelated bipartisan measures. That included an overhaul of the electoral vote-counting law that former President Donald J. Trump tried to use to overturn the 2020 election and a ban on the Chinese-owned app TikTok on government devices.
The package also includes earmarks, rebranded for a second consecutive year as community project funding, that allow lawmakers to divert some money to specific projects in their districts and states. It also provides the funding needed to fulfill policy changes outlined in bipartisan legislation that became law earlier this Congress, including a bill aimed at bolstering American semiconductor manufacturing and the bipartisan infrastructure law.
The two states — backed by senior Democrats like Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland and Senator Mark Warner of Virginia — have been in a long-running battle to be the home of the F.B.I. as it plans to move from downtown Washington into the suburbs. After frenzied negotiations, the two delegations agreed to language requiring the government to have detailed consultations with teams from both states before picking a site, a Senate Democratic aide said.
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The package, which provides roughly $1.7 trillion to keep the government funded, also sets aside billions of dollars more for emergency aid, including over $40 billion for Ukraine, more than the $37.7 billion the White House requested. It also provides about $40 billion to help communities across the country recover from hurricanes, wildfires and droughts in the past year.
The legislation includes plans intended to improve the nation’s response to future pandemics, though lawmakers did not include a proposal to create an independent panel to investigate the handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
In their effort to secure at least 10 Republican votes to avoid a filibuster, Democrats were forced to abandon a number of priorities, including reviving lapsed expanded payments to most families with children, emergency aid to counter the toll of the coronavirus pandemic and a bid to lift the cap on the nation’s borrowing limit before an expected deadline next year.
Republicans — led by Senators Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, and Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the vice chairman of the Appropriations Committee — emphasized their success in negotiating more funding for the military, as some conservatives balked at the overall spending increase and lamented that they could have had a stronger negotiating hand had party leaders waited until they controlled the House.
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The legislation would increase federal spending from the last fiscal year, providing $858 billion in military spending and more than $772 billion for domestic programs for the remainder of the fiscal year that ends in September, according to a summary released by Senate Democrats. With Republican support needed for the measure to pass the Senate, Democrats bowed to conservative opposition to approving a larger increase that would have kept funding levels equal for health, education and other domestic programs that President Biden and his party have prioritized.
The release of the legislation came around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, days before a midnight Friday deadline to fund the government or face a shutdown, after lawmakers passed a one-week stopgap funding bill last week to give themselves more time to discuss the bigger spending package.
The measure is the last opportunity for Democrats to shape the federal budget while their party controls both chambers of Congress and for several retiring lawmakers to push a final round of pet projects into law. With Republicans set to take control of the House — and vowing to force deep spending cuts — lawmakers in both parties were eager to finish the compromise and remove one possible threat of political brinkmanship.
Advertisement
Continue reading the main story
“The choice is clear: We can either do our jobs and fund the government, or we can abandon our responsibilities without a real path forward,” said Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, calling the bill “undoubtedly in the interest of the American people” in a statement early Tuesday.
Given that the 4,155-page package is the final, must-pass legislation for this Congress, lawmakers stuffed it with dozens of funding priorities and unrelated bipartisan measures. That included an overhaul of the electoral vote-counting law that former President Donald J. Trump tried to use to overturn the 2020 election and a ban on the Chinese-owned app TikTok on government devices.
The package also includes earmarks, rebranded for a second consecutive year as community project funding, that allow lawmakers to divert some money to specific projects in their districts and states. It also provides the funding needed to fulfill policy changes outlined in bipartisan legislation that became law earlier this Congress, including a bill aimed at bolstering American semiconductor manufacturing and the bipartisan infrastructure law.
The two states — backed by senior Democrats like Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland and Senator Mark Warner of Virginia — have been in a long-running battle to be the home of the F.B.I. as it plans to move from downtown Washington into the suburbs. After frenzied negotiations, the two delegations agreed to language requiring the government to have detailed consultations with teams from both states before picking a site, a Senate Democratic aide said.
Advertisement
Continue reading the main story
The package, which provides roughly $1.7 trillion to keep the government funded, also sets aside billions of dollars more for emergency aid, including over $40 billion for Ukraine, more than the $37.7 billion the White House requested. It also provides about $40 billion to help communities across the country recover from hurricanes, wildfires and droughts in the past year.
The legislation includes plans intended to improve the nation’s response to future pandemics, though lawmakers did not include a proposal to create an independent panel to investigate the handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
In their effort to secure at least 10 Republican votes to avoid a filibuster, Democrats were forced to abandon a number of priorities, including reviving lapsed expanded payments to most families with children, emergency aid to counter the toll of the coronavirus pandemic and a bid to lift the cap on the nation’s borrowing limit before an expected deadline next year.
Republicans — led by Senators Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, and Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the vice chairman of the Appropriations Committee — emphasized their success in negotiating more funding for the military, as some conservatives balked at the overall spending increase and lamented that they could have had a stronger negotiating hand had party leaders waited until they controlled the House.
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Lawmakers Unveil Sprawling Spending Bill to Avoid Shutdown
The legislation, which would fund the government through September, would significantly increase federal spending.
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