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Lawmakers have at long last unveiled the legislative text of the huge $1.7 trillion “omnibus” government funding bill for all of fiscal year 2023, with apparent wins for both parties like boosting non-defense discretionary spending, while keeping restrictions on funding abortions.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) released the bill (pdf) late Monday, urging members of the House and Senate to take up the 4,155-page bill and “pass it without delay” as government funding is set to expire on Dec. 23 at midnight and a shutdown looms.
“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 in a statement. “Passing this bipartisan, bicameral, omnibus appropriations bill is undoubtedly in the interest of the American people.”
The full-year government funding bill, commonly known as an “omnibus” for its catch-all scope that funds multiple federal agencies, is first expected to be taken up by the Senate for possible passage by Thursday, then to the House, and later to President Joe Biden’s desk for a signature by Friday’s deadline.
Failure to pass the legislation could bring a partial government shutdown beginning Saturday and potentially lead to a months-long standoff after Republicans assume control of the House on Jan. 3, ending the Democrats’ monolithic grip on power in Washington.
The bill is the product of long-running negotiations between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, which ran into less routine sticking points like the location of the new FBI headquarters and more standard fare like the GOP pushing back on what it views as wasteful pork-barrel spending on programs unrelated to defense.
On Dec. 14, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that,”Republicans simply were not going to lavish extra-liberal spending” on non-defense programs into the omnibus bill.
On Dec. 15, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat in the Senate, said last week that, “nobody is going to get everything they want, but the final product will include wins everyone can get behind.”
Leahy said Monday that the bill “is the product of months of hard work and compromise” and thanked Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) for “their partnership and hard work.”
The full details of the package were being crafted over the weekend, with the draft released late Monday showing that the legislation includes $772.5 billion for non-defense discretionary programs and $858 billion in defense funding.
