THE FUNDING FIGHT
House to vote on omnibus, 4-day CR today
Following a frantic few days of negotiations, and an abbreviated late-night (early morning?) markup by the Rules Committee, the House is moving toward a vote today on a $1.5 trillion omnibus spending package designed to keep federal agencies open through September.
The massive FY 2022 omnibus package – which was released at 1:30 a.m. – is 2,741 pages long. You can see the full text here and the House Dems’ summary here.
Included in this package is $13.6 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine and neighboring Eastern Europe countries in response to the recent Russian invasion. This funding, which has huge bipartisan support, is one of the keys to passing the omnibus today.
There’s no way that members can read this enormous bill by the time they vote on it later today, roughly 12 hours after it was released. Yet Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats are heading to a Democratic retreat in Philadelphia that kicks off this afternoon, so they’re pressing ahead with a vote as soon as possible anyway. Progressives are upset about the inclusion of huge increases in defense spending. However, they support the big increases in domestic spending won by Democratic leaders, so they’ll vote for the bill.
With government funding running out at midnight on Friday, the Rules Committee also passed a four-day continuing resolution to keep federal agencies running until March 15. This is an insurance policy which will give the Senate several more days to process the omnibus legislation. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will likely need that extra time to steer the chamber around objections from Republican senators.
In addition, the Rules Committee passed a new sanctions bill that includes a ban on importing oil and other petroleum products from Russia into the United States. While President Joe Biden has already instituted the oil ban by executive order, Pelosi believes it is important for the House to go on the record on the issue. Senate Republicans may end up blocking this measure after Democrats reneged on a deal over the issue.
Here’s that bill, which prohibits the importation of Russian crude oil, gasoline, coal, natural gas and other energy products. The restriction on imports can be waived by the president if he deems “it is in the national interest,” although that move is subject to a resolution of disapproval by Congress.
The Russia sanction bill has language calling on the U.S. Trade Representative to begin the process of seeking the Russian Federation’s suspension from the WTO. Additionally, it reauthorizes and amends the Global Magnitsky Act, which imposes sanctions on human rights violators.
Republicans complained Tuesday about House Democrats’ decision to go back on a bipartisan, bicameral deal over ending “permanent normal trade relations” with Russia and Belarus. However, the White House opposed the language and pressured Democratic leaders on the Hill to drop it. Administration officials want to make sure the United States can act in coordination with allies on economic sanctions while also giving Biden a free hand to deal with the crisis – and potential negotiations to end the conflict.
On the omnibus, the two parties eventually settled their differences by spending a lot more money. Per House Appropriations Committee Democrats, “the regular 12 appropriations bills include $730 billion in non-defense funding, a $46 billion increase over fiscal year 2021. This 6.7 percent increase in non-defense funding is the largest in four years. The bills provide $782 billion in defense funding – an increase of $42 billion, 5.6 percent, over fiscal year 2021.”
The path to get to today’s House vote on the omnibus package was long and extremely tedious. House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) noted during a very brief Rules Committee meeting (no Democrats but the chair, Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, even showed up in person) that the “Four Corners” – the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Appropriations panels – first met to discuss this package on Nov. 2. That was more than four months ago.
“I am so proud of this government funding legislation, which delivers transformative federal investments to help lower the cost of living for working families, create American jobs, and provide a lifeline for the vulnerable,” DeLauro said in a statement “During this time of great uncertainty and change, we are tackling some of our nation’s biggest challenges, including making health care more affordable, confronting the climate crisis, and protecting our national security.”
But as we noted in our PM edition, Republicans did very well on this bill. They achieved “parity” for the increases in defense and non-defense spending. They won on policy riders including the Hyde Amendment, which bars the use of federal funds for abortions. There’s also no “poison pills,” another Republican priority.
Rep. Kay Granger of Texas, top Republican on House Appropriations, praised the bill during the Rules markup. Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.), ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said this: “Throughout this process, I have insisted upon dollar-for-dollar parity for defense and non-defense increases, preservation of long-standing legacy riders, and the exclusion of partisan poison pills. I am pleased that we have achieved all three goals.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell backs the package as well, calling it a “major step forward that our national security needs.”
Our fault: We misstated the rate growth for defense and non-defense spending in the omnibus package as part of our P.M. edition last night. It is 5.6% for defense spending, and 6.7% for non-defense spending.
