The House approved a $1.2 trillion spending bill on Friday just before federal funding for key agencies was set to expire. AP News reports, the bill, which now moves to the Senate for approval, is getting heat from some Republicans who have taken issue with its content for “containing too few of their policy priorities and as spending too much.”
About 70% of the money is going towards defense spending. The bill, which is 1,012 pages, also allots funding for the departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Labor, and others. Some agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), took a hit in the bill, and other agencies will reportedly struggle to keep up with inflation.
House Republicans were victorious in some efforts to curb spending in the bill for certain purposes. One success was prohibiting funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) through March 2025. The UNRWA was found to have been collaborating with Hamas terrorists during their October 7 terrorist attack on Israel. Although this provision upset Democrats, some were content with being able to secure more humanitarian assistance overall with a $336 million increase from the prior year.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) also was able to meet other demands of Republicans including securing about 8,000 more detention beds for migrants awaiting their immigration proceedings or removal from the country, an increase of about 24%, and the hiring of about 2,000 more Border Patrol agents was also highlighted as a success for Republicans.
The package was only part of this year’s fiscal spending bill. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) moved to break up the year’s fiscal spending bill into two parts after House Republicans expressed outrage over being forced to pass one massive bill with little time for review.
Still, some Republicans are frustrated with the bill and taking it out on Speaker Johnson. In one instance of backlash, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) attacked Speaker Johnson saying “it’s clear that the Democrats own the speaker’s gavel.” Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) called it “a sad day.”
Despite the woes of some Republicans who were not pleased with the content of the bill, others agreed to it knowing that compromise is a necessary part of developing a budget that could pass, avoiding a government shutdown. The bill passed the House in a 286-134 vote.