Lawmakers unveil $1.2trn spending bill ahead of looming government shutdown

The Senate and House Appropriations Committees on Thursday released the text to fund major departments of the US government and avoid a government shutdown.

The appropriators dropped the text in the early hours of Thursday morning. The so-called minibus spending bill will fund the State Department; the Pentagon; the Department of Homeland Security; Congress; the Department of Health and Human Services; the Department of Education; financial services and the general government.

“We had to work within difficult fiscal constraints—but this bipartisan compromise will keep our country moving forward, and I hope all of my colleagues will work with us to get it signed into law as soon as possible,” Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, said in a statement.

The agreement will keep the government open until the end of the fiscal year on 30 September. It is part of a bipartisan agreement wherein six spending bills passed earlier this month and the additional six spending bills would pass this week.

Republicans have long objected to the use of “omnibus” spending bills wherein the appropriations committees combine the 12 individual spending bills into one must-pass spending bill, typically at the end of the calendar year.

Republicans had also hoped that they could use the appropriations process to include provisions restricting immigration. On Monday, the House Freedom Caucus sent a letter asking that House Republican leadership include provisions from the so-called Secure the Border Act.

The spending agreement also signals the ability for House Speaker Mike Johnson--who took the gavel after conservatives ejected previous speaker Kevin McCarthy--to negotiate with the Democrat-controlled