Congress introduces first six budget bills to avoid government shutdown

Congressional lawmakers on Sunday released details of the first six budget bills needed to keep government agencies funded before the money runs out and a partial government shutdown takes effect next weekend.

The 1,050-page appropriations package provides funding for six major areas of government that include departments of Military and Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Commerce, Energy and Water, Transportation, Housing and more.

Funding for these departments was due to expire last Friday, March 1, but congressional leaders reached a deal on Wednesday to extend those deadlines by a week and avoid a partial government shutdown. It was the fourth such funding extension this fiscal year, as Congress has struggled to establish a long-term budget plan.

This partial budget agreement is a step forward in the push to secure a permanent budget plan for the remainder of the fiscal year, which began October 1.

But these six funding projects are only half the battle.

The other six appropriations bills that keep the rest of the government funded are set to expire on March 22, giving Capitol Hill just over two weeks to negotiate the other half of the government’s spending plan.

However, leaders on both sides are touting the first half of the funding package as a victory, albeit for different reasons.

Democrats are trumpeting to continue fully funding a special food assistance program for women, infants and children. They also secured gains on rental assistance and payment of infrastructure employees such as air traffic controllers and rail inspectors.

“Throughout negotiations, Democrats fought hard to protect themselves from cuts to housing and nutrition programs and to exclude harmful provisions that would further limit women’s access to health or reverse progress made in fighting climate change,” the Senate Majority Leader. Chuck SchumerDN.Y. said in a statement on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Republicans are trumpeting victories on veteran gun ownership and funding cuts to government agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“House Republicans have secured major conservative policy victories, rejected proposals from the left, and imposed sharp cuts to agencies and programs critical to President Biden’s agenda,” the House Speaker said Mike JohnsonR-La., said in a statement Sunday.

The funding package now heads to the House for a vote where it will likely face opposition from the House Freedom Caucus, a coalition of hardline Republicans who have relentlessly opposed budget compromises in the last fiscal year.

“The clock is ticking until government funding runs out this Friday. Between now and the end of the week, the House must quickly pass and send this bipartisan package to the Senate,” Schumer said Sunday. “Once again it will only be bipartisanship that will get us across the finish line.”