5 things to know about Congress’s plan to avert a shutdown this week

Congressional leaders are rushing to pass a sweeping government funding plan announced Sunday ahead of a government shutdown deadline looming this weekend.

The 1,050-page package includes more than $450 billion in fiscal year 2024 funding for numerous departments, including Agriculture, Interior, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs (VA), Justice, Commerce, and Energy. include.

Here are five things to know about financing packages.

Democrats tout housing and nutrition

Democrats tout the sweeping plan as protecting nutrition assistance and housing programs from Republican-backed cuts, while also pointing to significant investments in both areas.

Proposed funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children includes more than $7 billion, which Democrats claim will “fully fund” the program facing shortfalls. This is $1 billion above the fiscal year 2023 level.

The package also did not appear to include changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program aimed at restricting the availability of items like soda and candy that some Republican lawmakers had sought.

The package includes more than $32 billion in tenant-based Section 8 vouchers, an increase of $2.1 billion from the previous year. Lawmakers on both sides say more funding is needed to combat rising rents. The package would also increase funding for project-based rental assistance programs and efforts to “address public housing financing needs.” Democratic summary of the text Say.

The bill would also increase funding for other housing programs, including what Democrats are calling for a “record $1.344 billion for the Indigenous Housing Block Grant Program.”

While Republicans boast of cuts

House Republicans have praised cuts to non-defense programs as they seek to cut government funding.

The cuts highlighted by Republicans include cuts to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).

Some Republican lawmakers have argued for a 6% cut to the FBI, although some have accused the agency of being used as a political weapon. This included a $654 million reduction in the FBI’s operating budget (a 6% reduction) and a $621.9 million reduction in the FBI’s construction account (representing a 95% reduction). There is.

ATF will receive a 7%, or $122 million, cut in funding, which Republicans say is aimed at reversing what they call “anti-Second Amendment overreach.” There is.

The package would cost the EPA about 10% less as Republicans craft spending bills this year based on rules established in the last debt ceiling deal, as spending officials from both countries have warned of severe budget constraints. It is argued that this means a reduction. But Democrats also argue that current funding still maintains staffing levels across the agency’s programs.

At the same time, some Republicans also point to increases in areas such as increased funding for the Drug Enforcement Administration. The party says the Drug Enforcement Administration is intended to support efforts to combat fentanyl, as well as additional funding for the Food Safety and Inspection Service and “improved foreign land ownership tracking systems.”

Republicans support language on veterans’ gun rights

Republicans also welcomed language in the bill that would protect veterans’ gun rights after a similar Republican push last year temporarily slowed funding progress.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said the package would allow the Veterans Administration to “use the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Checks (NICS) to collect information about people seeking benefit assistance without a judge’s consent.” ) contains language prohibiting “transmission to the system.”

The inclusion comes months after a similar effort fueled partisan divisions in the Senate.

Republicans said at the time that the proposal was key to ensuring that veterans who need help managing their finances don’t lose their gun rights. But Democrats have raised alarms about the measure’s impact on suicide rates among veterans and the potential for people deemed “mentally incompetent” to own firearms.

“Poisonous drugs” are largely excluded.

Democrats claimed victory by eliminating so-called poison pill riders pushed by Republicans from the compromise.

Republican leaders have faced pressure from conservative hardliners in recent weeks over Democratic concessions to secure partisan riders on thorny areas like abortion and diversity as part of bipartisan funding negotiations.

Measures sought by conservatives as part of the talks include proposals to cut pay for cabinet members, defund family planning programs and target the Biden administration’s diversity mandate.

Ryder was seen as an uncrossable red line for Democrats and was fiercely opposed.

The package includes There has already been criticism These are the voices of some hard-liners who are expressing dissatisfaction with the fact that “an abandoned policy won” in the bipartisan talks.

The hardest work may yet continue

Both sides aim to avoid a partial government shutdown on Friday, and the House is expected to take first action on the policy later this week.

But with appropriators already eyeing a March 22 deadline to fund the government’s remaining funds, these bills are expected to be even more contentious than the original. It has said.

These would cover funding for the Department of Defense and departments such as Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Homeland Security.