The House will vote next week on more than half a trillion dollars in proposed spending to keep the government going as leaders scramble to pass their annual funding bills before lawmakers go on recess. next month.
The lower house is expected to consider six of its twelve annual spending bills next week to fund a slate of agencies for the 2023 fiscal year, including the ministries of Housing and Urban Development, Transport, Agriculture, Energy and Veterans Affairs as well as Food and Drug Management.
A source familiar with the process told The Hill that the measures would be “consolidated into one bill – due for a floor vote on the same day”.
It’s unclear when the remaining six bills will come to a vote as leaders lock down the schedule, but House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said last month the plan was to “put the bills on the floor in July”.
The bill, which House negotiators have spent the past few weeks annotating before sending it off the committee, is expected to pass the Democratic-led House. However, the bills – largely approved by the parties in committee – will likely look different after House and Senate leaders reach an overall compromise on fiscal year 2023 funding in the coming months. .
In a statement Monday, House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) touted the bills as measures that “would help the middle class, working families, small businesses and vulnerable people who work hard”.
“We are committed to fighting climate change, strengthening mental health services, supporting our veterans, and building safer communities with less crime and violence and more safety,” DeLauro said.
However, the legislation was pushed back by Republicans on cost and what they called a “liberal wish list”, with a lack of parity in defense and non-defense spending.
The Senate has yet to introduce any of its annual spending bills for fiscal year 2023 as leaders scramble to reach agreement on numbers and defense spending, raising questions about when the Congress will finish its messy appropriations business this year – if that’s the case.
If lawmakers are unable to pass their appropriation bills by the late September deadline, when current government funding is about to expire, Congress can pass a continuing resolution allowing the government to remain temporarily funded at previous year’s budget levels to buy time for an agreement.
Last year, Congress passed three rolling resolutions to avoid a shutdown before passing a $1.5 trillion omnibus spending package for fiscal year 2022 in March.
But lawmakers face a time crunch this year, especially as crucial midterm races loom in November and the two top upper house negotiators, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Vice President Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), get ready to retire.
