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WASHINGTON – While you were probably sleeping, congressional leaders unveiled a $1.2 trillion spending package to fund the government long term and avert a partial shutdown by a Friday funding deadline.
The legislation, which combines six spending bills into one massive 1,012 page bill, will fund the Defense Department, Homeland Security Department, Labor Department, Health and Human Services Department among other functions.
The final product came after intense negotiations between lawmakers over the spending package which proved to be much more controversial than past funding deals. As Congress sprints to pass the legislation before the government shuts down at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, both Republicans and Democrats are touting their own victories from the deal.
Here’s what’s in the spending deal:
What are Republicans touting?
Republicans are lauding the Homeland Security spending portion of the deal. The bill increases the number of ICE detention beds at the southern border and also funds 22,000 border patrol agents. GOP negotiators also secured funding cuts to NGOs.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement after the bill’s release the deal “moves the Department’s operations toward enforcing our border and immigration laws,” but “while these changes are welcome, only a significant reversal in policy by the President to enforce the law can ultimately secure our border.”
Johnson and congressional Republicans are also hailing blocking funding towards UNRWA, a United Nations agency delivering aid to Palestinians in Gaza, until March 2025, following Israel’s allegations that 12 of the agency’s 13,000 workers abetted Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
Other GOP victories include a new rule for the Consumer Product Safety Commission preventing it from banning gas stoves and only allowing U.S. embassies to fly the American flag or other official flags, excluding pride flags and the conservative flag.
What are Democrats touting?
Democrats are celebrating a new $1 billion investment in child care and Head Start, a federally funded childhood development program for low-income families. The deal also includes increased funding for Alzheimer’s research, cancer research and mental health programs.
Democratic negotiators were also able to secure increased funding for the Defense Department’s climate and energy resilience against climate change. The bill additionally extends PEPFAR – President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief – until March 25. The program is aimed at combating the HIV and AIDS epidemic across the globe.
The spending deal also grants 12,000 new special immigrant visas for Afghans who helped the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan, an issue that drew bipartisan support.
Notably, Democrats are not only bragging about the spending victories they could get, but also what they were able to prevent Republicans from tacking on conservative policy addons to the final deal.
“We defeated outlandish cuts that would have been a gut punch for American families and our economy—and we fought off scores of extreme policies that would have restricted Americans’ fundamental freedoms, hurt consumers while giving giant corporations an unfair advantage, and turned back the clock on historic climate action,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement following the legislation’s release.
