Congressional leaders are one step closer to closing out a particularly chaotic government funding season, releasing a massive, $1.2 trillion spending package early Thursday morning that they aim to pass through both chambers by week’s end.
Lawmakers are again racing against a partial government shutdown that would hit just after midnight Saturday morning, after a fight over border-related funding delayed legislative text. The new package leaders unveiled overnight would boost budgets for the military through the end of September, while keeping funding for most non-defense agencies about even with current spending levels.
The six-measure bundle is the most substantial bipartisan legislation Speaker Mike Johnson has negotiated during his nearly five months leading the House, representing a much more controversial package than the one Congress cleared earlier this month. The latest bill would wrap up the government funding work that vexed former Speaker Kevin McCarthy throughout his tumultuous nine-month run leading the House last year.
Johnson called the newly unveiled legislation a “serious commitment” to “strengthening our national defense” by moving the military toward its “core mission.”
The cross-party compromise is also a conclusive defeat for House conservatives. The Freedom Caucus has continuously pressured leadership to cut federal funding — even at the cost of a shutdown — and pass the 12 regular spending bills individually. After some in the right flank ousted McCarthy for defying those demands and averting a shutdown with Democratic help in September, members of the group have made similar asks of Johnson, who has instead pursued bipartisan spending levels that nearly mimic a deal McCarthy reached with Biden last year.
Democrats are lauding a new $1 billion infusion for child care and Head Start programs, alongside more Title I resources for schools that serve low-income students. They’re also celebrating $120 million for cancer research, $100 million for Alzheimer’s research, $1 billion for the Pentagon’s climate change activities, funding for a new FBI headquarters that a number of Republicans opposed and more.
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