Congressional Leaders Sell $1.2 Trillion Spending Package to Members Before Shutdown Deadline

WASHINGTON (AP) — 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 later in the day. 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.

“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.

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 touted for members was prohibiting — through March 2025 — funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency(UNRWA). Employees of the U.N. arm were found by Israel to have participated in the Oct. 7 massacre, and educational materials used in UNRWA schools contained open calls for terrorism against Israel.

The U.S. is the biggest 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.