Congress is trying to cram through a mammoth $1.7 trillion government funding bill ahead of a nor’easter that could otherwise leave lawmakers snowed-in in Washington, D.C. over Christmas.
The 4,500 page bill is full of classic priorities: $858 billion for defense, $45 billion for Ukraine, $38 billion for emergency disasters and billions more for other social programs – but also includes some odd riders.
It’s loaded with thousands of earmarks – funding for the pet projects of individual lawmakers sometimes in exchange for their vote. Earmarks were banned until Democrats brought them back last year. Republicans followed suit in their own conference.
Democratic House Appropriator Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who helped negotiate the bill with Sens. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. and Pat Leahy, D-Vt., boasted the funding bill ‘fulfills 98% of Democratic member requests in the House, with $5.4 billion for 3,213 Democratic projects.’
The House and Senate will take a final vote on the measure over Wednesday and Thursday and it’s expected to pass:
Here are some of the projects – big and small – that will be funded once the bill is signed:
$375 million for a new FBI building
A fight broke out between the Maryland and Virginia delegations over where the new building, which will replace the aging J. Edgar Hoover building in D.C. The chief of the General Services Administration will now talk with both sides and weigh the best location of the building. However a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report suggests the project would cost over $1 billion.
$230 million for border security technology plus $1.56B in border processing funds that can’t be used for security
This comes as Title 42 is expected to draw to a close and a fresh wave of migrants are expected to surge the southern border. The $230 million can be used for ‘Procurement, Construction, and Improvements’ of border technologies but won’t be used for a wall since President Biden canceled that project.
The $1.56 billion cannot be used to ‘acquire, maintain, or extend border security technology and capabilities, except for technology and capabilities to improve Border Patrol 24 processing.’
The bill also offers $340 million for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for non-detention purposes.
$70 million for salmon
$65 million would go to Pacific coastal salmon recovery and $5 million would go to study the impact of roads and bridges on salmon populations. As Rep. Dan Bishop pointed out, the word ‘salmon’ is used 48 times in the bill
The $1.7T omnibus bill includes $70 million for salmon
The bill also includes $2 million for the Blacks in Wax museum in Baltimore, shown above
$575 million for family planning where population growth harms the environment
The bill stipulates the money be made available for family planning and reproductive health, ‘including in areas where population growth threatens biodiversity or endangered species.’ The funds are not to be used for abortions.
$65.7 million for international fisheries commissions
$2.6 billion for January 6 prosecutions
The bill would provide $2.6 billion for US Attorneys ‘to further support prosecutions related to the January 6 attack on the Capitol and domestic terrorism cases,’
$410 million to enhanced border security in the Middle East
The money is supposed to ‘remain available’ to reimburse Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia and Oman in their efforts to enhance border security, with at least $150 million of that specifically for Jordan.
$200 million for the Gender Equity and Equality Action Fund
It’s an International fund for women’s economic empowerment.
$300 million to prepare for an influenza pandemic
$7.5 million to study ‘domestic radicalization phenomenon’
Funds are to be used to study strategies for intervention and prevention
$3.6 million for Michelle Obama trail
The 3.8-mile trail is near the Georgia State University-Perimeter College campus in Decatur was unveiled in 2018. House Republicans railed against this provision on Twitter.
$26 million fo the House of Representatives’ Office of Diversity and Inclusion
$2 million for the ‘Great Blacks in Wax’ museum in Baltimore
$3 million for the American LGBTQ+ Museum in New York
$3 million for bee-friendly highways
The money would go through the Pollinator-Friendly Practices on Roadsides and Highway Rights-of-Way Program, to the departments of transportation, Native American tribes and federal land management agencies for ‘activities to benefit pollinators on roadsides and highway rights-of-ways’ like planting certain types of flowers and implementing new mowing strategies.
$15.2 million for a Vaccine Injury Trust Fund
Up from $13.2 million last year, the fund covers damages from vaccines dating back to 1998.
Designation of a Ukrainian Independence Park in Washington, D.C.
Renaming of a federal building in San Francisco to the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building
Renaming an existing school lunch program the Patrick Leahy Farm to School Program
Renaming the Lake Champlain Basin Program as the Patrick Leahy Lake Champlain Basin Program
Renaming an FBI building in Alabama after Richard Shelby
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., negotiated the bill with Democrats
More than 20 GOP senators voted Tuesday night to end debate on the bill, signaling it will have the votes to pass a final vote in the Senate, but a sizable portion of the House GOP caucus is against the spending package.
A group of now 31 incoming and current House GOP lawmakers threatened to ‘thwart’ the legislative priorities of any Republican senator who votes for the bill. House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy promised the bills from GOP senators who vote for the bill would be ‘dead on arrival’ in the lower chamber if he becomes speaker.
The package can pass the House without any GOP votes.
The House and Senate must pass the legislation before the Friday deadline for a government shutdown. If they do not pull it off before the end of the year, Republicans would insist on rewriting the bill when they take control of the House.
