House approves $1.4T spending bills to avert shutdown
Two packages would fund federal agencies, programs for fiscal year
WASHINGTON >> The House took the first step Tuesday to avert a government shutdown, giving overwhelming approval to legislation that would fund all federal agencies and programs through next fall just days before federal funding is set to lapse.
A dozen must-pass bills were split into two packages in part to appease President Donald Trump, who had vowed to never again sign a so-called omnibus package. But in essence, the pair of measures were just that: a giant potpourri of unrelated spending and policy measures stuffed full of priorities with enough appeal to each political party to ensure their passage through Congress and smooth their path to Trump’s desk, on the eve of a vote to impeach him.
The House passed the measures less than 24 hours after lawmakers formally unveiled more than 2,000 pages of legislation, which cover the federal government for the current fiscal year. The Senate is expected to vote on both measures before the Friday deadline when funding expires.
By a 297-120 vote, the House approved one package that contained $632 billion for nondefense programs and a number
of additions, including the repeal of three health care taxes and language raising the age to purchase tobacco products to 21 nationally. The measure also includes $25 million in funding for gun violence research, the first time in more than two decades that such funding will be allocated.
Heritage Action, the conservative advocacy group, declared its opposition — saying the bill was “loaded down with liberal poison pills and bad policy riders” — while the U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsed both measures.
Ultimately, the two spending packages — totaling about $1.4 trillion — will allow agencies and federal departments some
stability with a full year’s worth of funding, after two short-term spending bills kept the government functioning while lawmakers haggled over the details.
A second measure, billed as a national security package because it included allocations for both the military and the Department of Homeland Security, passed on a 280-138 vote. Seventy-five Democrats voted against the measure, with some protesting what they said was an excessive $738 billion outlay for the military and others objecting to the decision to fund the administration’s immigration policies without adequate oversight. The legislation maintains $1.375 billion for border barrier construction, with no limitations on Trump’s ability to transfer funds from
other Pentagon accounts.
“This is not the bill I would have written on my own,” Rep. Nita Lowey, DN.Y., chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, said in a floor speech about the measure. “But I am proud that we have been able to do so much good in this political environment.”
The top Republican on the committee, Rep. Kay Granger of Texas, declared that the compromise was “good for America, and I’m proud to support it.”
In a closed-door meeting with the Democratic caucus Tuesday morning, three lawmakers stood up to describe their concerns with the package: Reps. Joaquin Castro of Texas, chairman of the Hispanic Caucus; Pramila Jayapal of Washington, a co-chairwoman of the Progressive Caucus; and Ruben Gallego
of Arizona. The Hispanic Caucus, fueled by two-thirds of its 38 members, announced its opposition to the bill shortly afterward, as did the Progressive Caucus.
Gallego said he had told Lowey earlier this month that “the status quo is not acceptable” when it came to funding the immigration policies, including allowing the administration to reallocate funds from other programs to build the border wall and raise the number of migrants in detention over the levels set by the spending bills.
“I told her today in this caucus again, that she has to go find Republican votes, because I’m not voting for it,” he said Tuesday. Gallego argued that another short-term spending bill would have been preferable to the package put forward by Democrats,
though other lawmakers have argued that full-year funding bills offer the stability agencies and departments need to plan and develop programs.
Other members of the Democratic caucus grappled publicly with their choice between voting no to register their opposition to immigration policies they detest or supporting the measure to maintain funding for other national security programs and avoid another government shutdown.
Rep. Debbie MucarselPowell, D-Fla., a member of the Hispanic Caucus, called it a “heart-wrenching” decision to vote for the measure, while Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard of California, the top Democrat responsible for the Department of Homeland Security bill, acknowledged that “we’re all frustrated” with the border wall funding that remained and the lack of restrictions on Trump’s ability to transfer funding. Roybal-Allard, a member of the Hispanic Caucus, voted against the package, a rare gesture for a subcommittee chair.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, one of the most vocal foes of the spending process, was among the opponents of both pieces of legislation, calling them “atrocious” and urging his colleagues and Trump to vote against the packages.
Trump and his administration have not said whether they would support the packages, but administration officials were closely involved in the final crafting of the spending text — and most lawmakers in Washington are highly motivated to avoid another government shutdown.