Congress’ new spending bill adopts a Trump-style approach to immigration spending, boosting funding for border enforcement and detention, but it forgoes the big policy changes that Republicans say are needed to solve the migrant crisis.
The $1.2 trillion package funds the Homeland Security, Defense, Labor and State departments and other agencies, as well as Congress, for the rest of fiscal year 2024.
The bill spans 1,102 pages of legislative text, or nearly $1.2 billion per page, and lawmakers have scant time to read it before they will be asked to vote. Current government funding expires at midnight Friday.
Neither side was happy with the final package, but leaders hoped enough lawmakers would hold their noses and pass it.
The House aims for a vote Friday morning, with the Senate to follow. Without a bill, the government could enter a shutdown, though that wouldn’t affect most services until the beginning of the regular workweek on Monday.
Republican and Democratic leaders described the legislation as the epitome of compromise. Each side said they achieved some goals but acknowledged plenty of losses.
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The bill keeps spending relatively flat compared with 2023 levels. It trims 6% from foreign aid while increasing defense spending by $27 billion.
The real action was on policy riders, the provisions both sides try to attach to achieve political goals. After two years with Democrats controlling both chambers and largely having their way with spending, Republican lawmakers promised to use their control of the House to reverse those gains and stop some of President Biden’s priorities.
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana said Republicans did make some headway. The bill maintains a general ban on government funding for most abortions, claws back billions of dollars from the IRS and blocks the Consumer Product Safety Commission from banning gas stoves.
“While these changes are welcome, only a significant reversal in policy by the President to enforce the law can ultimately secure our border,” Mr. Johnson said.
Democrats cheered how much of the Republican agenda they could stop.
“From Day One of this process, I said there would be no extreme, far-right riders to restrict women’s reproductive freedoms — and there aren’t,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray, Washington Democrat.
She celebrated 12,000 additional visas for Afghans who helped the U.S. war effort and a $1 billion investment in Head Start programs across the country.
Democrats deleted several riders that would have rolled back the Biden administration’s diversity and equity push. The only one to make it into the final bill was a ban on embassies flying politically charged flags such as gay pride or Black Lives Matter banners.
The bill was released several days after the target date. Immigration proved to be a sticking point, just as it has been on a separate spending bill with aid for Israel and Ukraine.
After final negotiations, the bill rejected Mr. Biden’s proposed cuts to immigration agencies from the budget he submitted last year.
It allocates $5.1 billion to deportation operations, 33% more than the president requested. That includes the highest-ever level of fully funded detention beds at 41,500, which is 7,500 more than last year’s funding and 16,500 more than Mr. Biden has requested.
The legislation would allow Mr. Biden to reprogram money to exceed the 41,500 level.
The bill includes $3 billion more than Mr. Biden proposed for Customs and Border Protection, including funding to employ 22,000 Border Patrol agents. That is roughly 2,000 more than the agency has on staff and 1,795 more than Mr. Biden requested in his budget last year.
None of the border policy changes Republicans wanted made it into the package. Those include restoring the Trump-era Remain in Mexico policy and shutting down Mr. Biden’s expansive use of “parole” powers to bring millions of unauthorized migrants into the country.
Conservative lawmakers called it a major missed opportunity and tried to rally enough votes to defeat the bill.
“Any Republican that votes for this bill is voting for the parole, the mass releases under parole, that led to the death of Laken Riley,” said Rep. Chip Roy, Texas Republican.
Riley was the student slain on the University of Georgia campus last month. An illegal immigrant paroled by the Biden administration has been charged with the killing.
“They got more money to process people faster at the border,” Mr. Roy said. “Color me not just skeptical but completely uninterested in hearing any of my Republican colleagues complain about the border between now and November, when they just funded it.”
The House Freedom Caucus complained about the earmarks, or pork-barrel spending, included in the bill. Members pointed to funding for organizations that work on transgender issues, such as New Jersey’s Garden State Equality.
“I think the conservative wins are sparse,” said Rep. Andy Harris, a Maryland Republican who said he will vote against the bill. “I do believe we could have gotten more.”
Lawmakers on the left were also critical of the bill’s lack of funding for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, the key way that U.S. aid reaches Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“I’m not sure how I’m voting,” said Rep. Maxwell Frost, Florida Democrat.
Others saw a glass half full.
“I’m not jumping for joy, but compared to what it could have been, I’m relieved,” said Rep. James McGovern, Massachusetts Democrat.