What to Know in Washington: Congress Tees Up Year-End Omnibus
By Michaela Ross
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Congress would boost federal discretionary spending, keep restrictions on funding for abortions, and trim Internal Revenue Service funds in a $1.7 trillion government funding bill released early Tuesday morning.
The 12-bill omnibus appropriations package would increase base military and domestic spending, add supplemental funding to aid Ukraine, and provide relief to areas affected by natural disasters. It would leave in place longstanding restrictions on federal funding for abortions and exclude measures proposed by Democrats to mitigate the effects of the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling.
Read the bill text here.
The bill must be enacted by midnight Friday night to avoid a shutdown. Senators are poised to vote first, after the House sent a legislative vehicle meant to expedite consideration.
Enactment would give victories to military-focused Republicans who touted the bill’s $76 billion boost in defense funding, but would frustrate conservatives who called on the GOP to oppose any funding deal until they take control of the House in January. The package provides increases for many domestic priorities for Democrats, though they had to compromise on abortion policy riders.
Each of the 12 appropriations bills in the package would get increases, to varying degrees, according to the Senate Appropriations Committee summary. Read more
More Highlights:
- Electoral College: The legislation would change the way electoral votes are counted for presidential elections, clarifying that the vice president does not have the ability to toss out Electoral College votes. Read more
- TikTok: Lawmakers included a ban federal employees from using Chinese app TikTok on government-owned devices in the bill. Read more
- Children’s Nutrition: Legislation giving extra food aid to families with kids when they’re out of school in the summer made it onto the spending package. Read more
- Interior, EPA: Appropriators included about $40 billion in fiscal 2023 for the Interior Department, Environmental Protection Agency, and related agencies in the omnibus. Read more
- Clean Energy: The package would allocate $3.5 billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy, and $7 billion for defense environmental cleanup activities. Read more.
- Debt Ceiling: Lawmakers are forgoing the opportunity to attach an increase to the nation’s $31 trillion debt ceiling to the bill, setting up a fight next year with House Republicans. Read more
- Marijuana Banking: Legislation to open banking services to marijuana businesses was left out of the funding package. Read more
- R&D Tax: A slate of expired and expiring tax provisions are not included in a spending package. Read more
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To contact the reporter on this story: Michaela Ross in Washington at mross@bgov.com
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