WASHINGTON: US lawmakers early Tuesday released the text of a $1.7 trillion funding bill which Congress hopes to pass within days to avert a government shutdown.
The bill includes $858 billion in defence funding and will also provide $44.9 billion in emergency assistance for Ukraine.
It also includes $772.5 billion for non-defense discretionary programs, including $118.7 billion for Veterans Affairs medical care, a 22 percent increase, and provides $40.6 billion to help US communities hit by recent natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods.
“The pain of inflation on American families is real, and it is being felt right now across the federal government,” Senate Appropriations Chairman Patrick Leahy said in a statement announcing the release of the text of the appropriations bill.
“From funding for nutrition programs and housing assistance, to home energy costs and college affordability, our bipartisan, bicameral, omnibus appropriations bill directly invests in providing relief from the burden of inflation on the American people.”
The Senate and House Appropriations Committees released the text of the bill, which runs to 4,155 pages and covers spending through the end of fiscal 2023.
Congress last week adopted a short-term budget bill to avert a shutdown of federal services and give the Democratic and Republican parties a little more time to reach a compromise ahead of the December 23 deadline.
“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,” Leahy said.
“Passing this bipartisan, bicameral, omnibus appropriations bill is undoubtedly in the interest of the American people. It is the product of months of hard work and compromise,” the Democratic Vermont senator said.
“The House and the Senate should take up this bill and pass it without delay.”
The sequence of votes is to help House Speaker Nancy Pelosi handle the tiny two-vote majority she now holds and insure her members back the bill. Some progressives are expected to oppose the large increases for defence and policing.
House Republicans were left out of the negotiations and have argued that any bill should wait until at least January when they will take over the House. They are expected to mostly stick together in voting against the bill, heightening the need for Democrats to be unified.
Senate Republican leaders have concluded that the narrow and fractious GOP House majority would be unable to complete the fiscal 2023 spending bill anytime soon, and instead chose to compromise with Democrats. Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell portrayed it as a victory.
“President Biden wanted to cut defence spending and grow liberal domestic spending in real dollars,” McConnell said on the Senate floor.
“But Congress is rejecting the Biden administration’s vision and doing the exact opposite.”
Lawmakers are also forgoing the opportunity to attach an increase to the nation’s US$31 trillion debt ceiling to the bill, setting up a fight next year with House Republicans. They plan to use the need to stave off a payment default in the second half of 2023 to seek cuts to domestic spending.
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