House Passes Spending Package to Stave Off Shutdown

The House Freedom Caucus says the package breaks Republicans’ promise to pass individual spending bills.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) talks to reporters during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in Washington on Feb. 14, 2024. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Months of drawn-out negotiations over fiscal year 2024 appropriations may soon come to a close on Capitol Hill.

Up against two government shutdown deadlines on March 8 and March 22, the House voted 339–85 to pass a package of six spending bills on March 6 with bipartisan support.

The 1,050-page minibus—or small omnibus—authorizes funding for the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Energy, Interior, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, as well as military construction, the Food and Drug Administration, and other agencies.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) touted the package’s “conservative policy victories” following the text’s release, stating that it imposes “sharp cuts to agencies and programs critical to President Biden’s agenda.”

Specifically, the minibus slashes Environmental Protection Agency funding by 10 percent, FBI appropriations by 6 percent, and funds for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives by 7 percent. It also includes policy provisions aimed at reining in agencies that Republicans say have been weaponized against conservatives.

“This legislation forbids the Department of Justice from targeting parents exercising their right to free speech before school boards, while it blocks the Biden administration from stripping Second Amendment rights from veterans,” Mr. Johnson said.

The move to bundle the legislation marks a departure from the stated goal of many congressional Republicans—including the speaker himself—to do away with the recent practice of governance via massive omnibus bills.

Noting this, the House Freedom Caucus urged Republicans to oppose the package and “keep their promises to the American people.”

“The House Freedom Caucus opposes the $1.65 trillion omnibus spending bill, which will be decided in two halves, the first being brought to the floor this week under suspension of the rules. Even in the face of $34 trillion in national debt, the omnibus will bust the bipartisan spending caps signed into law less than a year ago and is loaded with hundreds of pages of earmarks worth billions,” the group said in a March 5 statement.

“Despite giving Democrats higher spending levels, the omnibus text released so far punts on nearly every single Republican policy priority. Worst of all, the omnibus surrenders Republicans’ leverage to force radical Democrats to the table to truly secure the southern border and end the purposeful, dangerous mass release of illegal aliens into the United States.”

Bills considered under suspension of the rules require a two-thirds majority for passage, but they also sidestep the perils presented by procedural votes.

Speaking with reporters ahead of the vote, Mr. Johnson acknowledged that Republicans wouldn’t get everything that they wanted out of the deal. But with only a two-vote majority in the House, he said that was a reality his conference was going to have to accept for now.

“We only control one-half of one-third of the federal government, so we have to be realistic about what we’re able to achieve. But in spite of that, we have an appropriations package that is going to cut non-defense, non-VA discretionary spending, and it is going to increase defense spending,” he said.

“We have a lot more priorities and things that we need to advance, but the reality, as we all recognize, is that we have to grow the House majority, take back the Senate for the Republican Party, and win the White House. And I’m here to tell you the reason we’re optimistic is we believe those things are going to happen in November.”

While Mr. Johnson stressed that changing Washington’s “muscle memory” on appropriations would take time, he assured that the process for fiscal year 2025 would mark a return to regular order.

His comments coincided with Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s suspension of her campaign after a disappointing Super Tuesday. Her decision paves the way for former President Donald Trump to claim the GOP nomination.

Touching on the presidential race, the speaker said he was “very happy” with the former president’s success and that he looked forward to working with him next year.

“House Republicans are going to work hand-in-hand with the new president, the 47th president, which we’re convinced will be President Donald Trump, and we’re going to turn the catastrophe, the crisis, the decline that we’ve described this morning completely around,” Mr. Johnson said.