House passes $460B spending bill to avert a partial shutdown

WASHINGTON>> The House on Wednesday passed a $460 billion spending bill to fund about half the federal government through the fall, moving to avert a partial shutdown at the end of the week and offering the first glimmer of resolution to bitter spending fights that have consumed Congress for months.

The 339-85 vote capped months of heated negotiations over federal funding that repeatedly have pushed the government to the edge of shutdown as Republicans pressed for cuts and conservative policies. It was yet another instance in which Speaker Mike Johnson was forced to steer around the opposition of the hard right and turn to Democrats to supply the bulk of the votes for critical legislation to keep the government running.

The Senate was expected to take up and pass the bill easily, sending it to President Joe Biden in time for it to become law before a midnight Friday deadline.

The measure would package six spending bills, extending funding through Sept. 30 for dozens of federal programs covering agriculture, energy and the environment, transportation, housing, the Justice Department and veterans.

Top lawmakers still were negotiating spending bills for the other half of the government over the same period, including for the Pentagon, which Congress must pass by March 22 to avert a lapse in funding.

Many House Republicans refused to back the bill because it did not cut spending or accomplish the party’s most sweeping and divisive policy demands, including measures to limit access to abortion.

House Republicans secured some smaller victories, including cuts to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI and environmental programs.

In addition to funding for a slew of government agencies, the legislation contains $12.6 billion in earmarks, which allow lawmakers to direct federal funds for specific projects to their states and districts.

While members of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus groused that the spending package did not secure the major cuts that they had wanted, there appeared to be little appetite to punish Johnson for relying on Democrats to pass it.

“Republicans will go around and talk about how they scored major wins, how they somehow delivered for the American people,” said Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, an influential conservative. “The fact of the matter is we did no such thing.”