Published March 6, 2024
The House on Wednesday passed a $460 billion spending package that will fund six agencies of government, relying Democratic support to make up for the majority of Republicans who opposed it.
The bill passed 339-85, with 132 Republicans voting yes, 83 voting no, and all but two Democrats voting for it.
The package brought together funding for Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, Energy-Water, Interior-Environment, Military Construction-VA and Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under one vote.
Conservatives have been insisting that Congress pass funding for each agency of government individually but that looked untenable under deeply divided government.
The spending package did not include the new border security restrictions that conservatives had wanted.
The 1,000+ page spending plan for the first six agencies of government, which have a funding deadline of Friday, was released Sunday and members of the House’s Freedom Caucus and like-minded senators decried the $12 billion and 605 pages of earmarks in the bill.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wrote on X that the bill ‘is littered with earmarks, fails to secure the border, & punts almost every GOP policy win – thus, will fund most of Biden’s lawlessness & tyranny.’
Speaker Mike Johnson has touted ‘deep cuts’ to the EPA (10%), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) (7%) and FBI (6%), which Johnson says has ‘threatened our freedoms and our economy.’
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SOURCE: www.dailymail.co.uk
RELATED: House Passes $460 Billion Package of Spending Bills to Avert Government Shutdown
Published March 6, 2024
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House passed a $460 billion package of spending bills Wednesday that would keep money flowing to key federal agencies through the remainder of the budget year. The Senate is expected to take up the legislation before a midnight Friday shutdown deadline.
Lawmakers are negotiating a second package of six bills, including defense, in an effort to have all federal agencies fully funded before a March 22 deadline. In the end, total discretionary spending set by Congress is expected to come in at about $1.66 trillion for the full entire year.
A significant number of House Republicans have lined up in opposition to the spending packages, forcing House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to use an expedited process to bring the bill up for a vote. That process requires two-thirds of the House to vote for the measure for it to pass.
The House passed the measure by a vote of 339-85.
The nondefense spending in this year’s bills is relatively flat compared to the previous year. Supporters say that keeping that spending below the rate of inflation is tantamount to a cut, forcing agencies to be more frugal and focus manpower on top priorities. Johnson cited a 10% cut to the Environmental Protection Agency, a 7% cut to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and a 6% cut to the FBI.
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SOURCE: www.breitbart.com
RELATED: Solid Democrat Bloc Helps Speaker Johnson Push the ‘Minibus’ Over the Top
Published March 6, 2024
Boosted by a solid bloc of Democrat support, the continuing resolution funding a portion of the federal government until the end of the fiscal year sailed through the House by a vote of 339-85. Of the 85 nay votes, 83 came from Republicans. Details of who voted how can be found at this link. The 132 yea votes contributed by the GOP show that the Freedom Caucus wing of the House is not terribly relevant on must-pass legislation.
This $460 billion ‘minibus’ covered funding for Agriculture-FDA, Energy-Water, Military Construction-VA, Transportation-HUD, Interior-Environment, and Commerce-Justice-Science. The rest of the government, including the more contentious Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, will receive a vote on March 22.
The bill wasn’t a total rout for the GOP.
What concerns me here is that Johnson is starting to use the quintessential Failure Theater arguments. “No, we really didn’t do squat, but we had all the right thoughts and feelings and if you give us a Senate majority, a larger House majority, and the White House, by golly, we’ll kick some ass.” As a pro-lifer, I’ve heard this for about thirty years. Spoiler Alert: giving them the House, Senate, and the White House doesn’t result in victory; it results in more failure.
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SOURCE: www.redstate.com
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Published March 6, 2024
