The Republican-controlled House overwhelmingly passed the initial funding bills to stop a partial government shutdown. The funding package deals with agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Departments of Justice and Commerce, Energy and Water Development, the Department of the Interior, Transportation and housing.
The bill passed 339-85:
Here’s more from NBC News:
House lawmakers easily passed a package of six spending bills on Wednesday, teeing up a vote in the Senate to pass the legislation and avert a partial government shutdown by Friday’s deadline.
The 1,050-page bill would keep parts of the government — including the Agriculture, Commerce, Interior, Justice and Transportation departments — open through September. The package, known as a minibus, is comprised of six appropriations bills that were negotiated between the Republican-led House and the Democratic-controlled Senate, and backed by President Joe Biden.
Passing the first tranche of funding bills is the easy part. House and Senate appropriators must next negotiate a deal for the remaining six spending bills ahead of a separate March 22 shutdown deadline. Those bills fund the Defense, State and Homeland Security departments, among other agencies and programs, and are expected to be more highly contested.
The package was passed Wednesday using a fast-track process, known as suspending the rules, that required a higher two-thirds majority to pass. The vote was 339-85.
All 100 senators would need to agree to hold a quick vote on the package to avert a partial shutdown beginning at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
Hard-right lawmakers lambasted the package and voted against it, arguing that it did little to cut spending and excluded their favored conservative policy riders.
“It’s a mistake. I think the American people don’t want to see us again, spend more money, rack up more debt. We’re $34.4 trillion in debt … we’re now at $1 trillion in interest, and we’re going to spend more money to fund more programs, undermining the American people?” asked Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus that opposed the package.
“I keep waiting for the fight that I keep getting told is going to happen tomorrow, right?” Roy continued. “It’s like … one of these losing sports teams says wait till next year, right? ‘Oh, trust me, elect us in November. We’ll do it. Next time.’ How about we do it now?”
But Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., defended the bipartisan spending deal, saying the political “reality” is that there is divided government in Washington and a minuscule, two-vote GOP majority, “one of the smallest in history in the House.” Johnson allies have noted it’s the first time since 2018 that the government had not been funded through one massive omnibus package.