(Bloomberg) – Congressional leaders unveiled a detailed agreement to keep large parts of the government open until Sept. 30, as they work hard to avoid a weekend deadline for another shutdown.
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The $436 billion package, covering about a quarter of funding for government agencies, seeks to resolve ideological clashes behind a series of shutdown threats and temporary patches the U.S. has operated for more than five months. This represents the first real progress made in the United States. It includes provisions to block oil sales from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China and track foreign purchases of U.S. farmland.
But it avoids protracted conflict by excluding funding for social programs administered through the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services. These institutions are currently scheduled to close on March 23rd, with no funding agreed.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the 1,050-page bill released Sunday did not contain any “rider” policy language that is anathema to Democrats.
“We are proud to keep the government open without layoffs or drug riders,” he said. He added that Democrats are proud of the level of funding for the Women, Infants and Children's Nutrition Program, infrastructure and veterans benefits.
Read more: China bans purchases from oil reserves in US funding bill
Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Patty Murray said in a statement that the bill would strengthen food assistance under the so-called WIC nutrition program, providing $7.03 billion, an increase of $1.03 billion from current levels. .
The House is expected to act first on the partial funding measure, passing the bill before President Joe Biden delivers his annual State of the Union address on Thursday. The Senate is expected to follow suit, and many targeted government agencies are expected to run out of funding by the end of the week.
The measure includes funding for the Food and Drug Administration, as well as the Departments of Agriculture, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs, and Energy. The Environmental Protection Agency, Commerce, Justice and Interior departments are also targeted.
The bill falls short of conservative demands for deep cuts in domestic spending and includes few policy changes.
One change Republicans were able to secure was new restrictions on how the Department of Veterans Affairs shares information with the federal gun registry. Currently, when a veteran asks for help managing their benefits, the Firearms Registry is notified that the veteran may not have the ability to own a firearm. The provision would limit sharing to cases in which the veteran poses a danger to himself or others.
The bill would direct authorities to issue warnings about foreign purchases of U.S. farmland, with a focus on entities with ties to China, North Korea, Russia and Iran. Although it does not completely ban these purchases as House Republicans had originally planned, the bill adds the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to review agricultural transactions.
The bill also updates strategically important agreements with Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia that grant U.S. military access to their territorial waters in exchange for funding.
Previously: Congress approves interim fund to avert US government shutdown
Republicans touted the bill as a new ban on the Justice Department from targeting or investigating “parents who peacefully protest at school board meetings and who are not suspected of engaging in illegal activity.”
A bitter, weeks-long fight by Republicans to allow states to limit food stamp benefits to more nutritious foods was unsuccessful, according to House Republican leadership officials.
Republicans acknowledge that overall non-defense funding will not be reduced in the funding agreement, but point out that Biden had called for a $72 billion increase for this area in this year's budget proposal.
Speaker Mike Johnson said House Republicans have successfully navigated a divided government and a slim majority to shift spending and policy priorities.
“American taxpayers will benefit,” he said in a statement.
Republican officials say flat domestic spending is straining the budgets of some government agencies due to rising medical costs for veterans and food cuts for women and infants. Veterans Affairs health funding would increase by $2.3 billion from current levels, and the remaining non-defense funds would face cuts to meet the agreed-upon cap.
The bill includes billions of dollars for lawmakers' pet projects known as earmarks, as Republican leaders agreed to continue the once-banned practice.
Republicans are pleased that the bill would divert $20 billion in tax audit funds from the Internal Revenue Service, which Republicans argued could be used to harass taxpayers. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the funds were provided as part of Mr. Biden's flagship economic package in the last Congress and would generate significant revenue from uncovering tax fraud.
It would also redirect $18 billion of previously approved COVID-19 pandemic funds to other uses.
(Updates expenditure amounts in second paragraph and includes detailed provisions throughout.)
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