Congress reaches deal on $1.7T package to avert government shutdown, final vote to come

Senate negotiators Thursday reached a deal to pass a $1.7 trillion spending package that would avert a Christmas government shutdown.

Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said both sides agreed to a deal that should allow final passage later in the day.

After staying up till 2 a.m., Democrats and Republicans were back at work by breakfast time seeking to hammer out a string of last-minute disagreements over the southern border and other issues that must be resolved before final passage.

“The bill …. will be good for families, for veterans, our national security, even for the health of our democratic institutions,” said Schumer (D-N.Y.)

In a sign of optimism, Schumer urged senators to stay near the floor so votes can happen quickly, potentially allowing all of them to beat a bomb cyclone winter storm and get home for Christmas.

Any one senator can block a speedy vote, and several are using that leverage to demand votes on amendments.

Most are designed to score political points and have no chance of passage.

But one key snag is a proposed amendment from Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) seeking to extend pandemic-era restrictions on asylum seekers at the border, also referred to as Title 42.

If that measure were to pass, it could endanger the entire bill in the House, where Democrats oppose it.

Then, “everything falls apart,” said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah).

The bill is expected to include $1 billion to partially plug a hole in the Sept. 11 health fund. That’s less than a third of what is actually needed but will put off a funding crisis for now, according to Schumer and fellow Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)

The sprawling bill would fund the government through next fall, a major achievement compared to the piecemeal stopgap measures Congress has recently relied on.

The final push came just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used a historic address to a joint session of Congress to thank lawmakers for the $45 billion in additional aid that is included in the package.

“Your money is not charity. It’s an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way,” a triumphant Zelenskyy told cheering lawmakers.

The measure would also boost U.S. defense spending by about 10% to $858 billion, addressing concerns from some lawmakers that more investment in the nation’s military is needed to ensure America’s security.

Schumer and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have both urged colleagues to vote for the measure, though they emphasized different priorities.

McConnell is facing pushback from many Republicans who resent being forced to vote on such a massive package with so little time before a potential shutdown and the Christmas holiday.

The bill, which runs for 4,155 pages, includes about $772.5 billion for non-defense, discretionary programs and $858 billion for defense and would finance agencies through September.

Lawmakers worked to stuff as many priorities as they could into the sprawling package, likely the last major bill of the current Congress.

For Democrats, things will get trickier in the new year because the GOP will control the House.

That includes $27 billion in disaster funding to help communities recovering from disasters and extreme weather events as well as an overhaul of federal election law that aims to prevent any future presidents or presidential candidates from trying to overturn an election.

The bipartisan electoral overhaul was a direct response to former President Donald Trump’s efforts to convince Republican lawmakers and then-Vice President Mike Pence to object to the certification of Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, 2021.

The spending bill also contains scores of policy changes that lawmakers worked furiously to include to avoid having to start over in the new Congress next year.

Examples include a provision from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., that bans TikTok on government cell phones due to security concerns. Another provision supported by the Maine delegation was added to aid the state’s lobster and Jonah crab fisheries, delaying regulations proposed to help save endangered North Atlantic right whales.

And, on the health care front, the bill requires states to keep children enrolled in Medicaid on coverage for at least a year, which advocates say increases access to preventative care.