House Passes $1.1T Omnibus Spending Bill: Here are the 166 Republicans Who Voted For It
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed with overwhelming support a massive $1.1 trillion “omnibus” spending bill to fund government operations until Sept. 30.
The bill passed 359-67. Sixty-four Republicans and three Democrats voted against the bill. The three Democrats were Reps. Raul Grijalva (Ariz.), Rush Holt (N.J.) and Mike McIntyre (N.C.).
Approving the bill “is showing the American people we actually are capable of working in a bipartisan manner,” said Oklahoma Republican Tom Cole.
He added that the bill restrains spending, explaining that its passage would be “the responsible thing to do. It’s the thoughtful thing to do.”
The 1,582-page bill works out the details of the budget agreement struck by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in December.
However, despite strong support for the bill, the legislation managed to irritate members on both the left and the right side of the aisle. A handful of Democrats, for example, complained that the bill didn’t set aside enough for spending on education and health programs.
“With this bill, we are waste deep in manure instead of neck deep in manure. Hooray, I guess,” said Massachusetts Democrat Jim McGovern.
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) had similar thoughts, saying she’s glad the bill would “get us out of this cycle of governing by crisis.” But she later added that the bill’s spending of social programs is “far too low for too many people to really achieve the American dream.”
The bill debated Wednesday will halt an additional $20 billion in automatic cuts to the Pentagon’s budget (this would have been in addition to the $34 billion in sequester cuts put in place last year).
“We met compelling human needs. We certainly preserved national security,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) who, along with Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), is chiefly responsible for the bill.
But at least three Democratic representatives didn’t feel that way.
“For several years we’ve been cheating Americans of a number of things we should be doing for infrastructure, science research, education, to make our country stronger,” said Rep. Holt who voted “no” on the bill.
The bill will now head to the Senate for debate and final passage. It is expected to either pass or fail by the end of this week.
Here’s a breakdown of Wednesday’s House vote (Democrats in italics): [Click link at bottom of page for breakdown]
Here are some additional details on the bill from the Associated Press:
One widely supported provision would roll back a reduction in annual cost-of-living increases for wounded military personnel who retire early or for their surviving spouses. That language was part of the savings included in the budget compromise by Ryan and Murray enacted last month, money that was used to help soften cuts in other programs.
The Internal Revenue Service, a pariah agency for Republicans after revelations that it targeted tea party groups for tough examinations, would get $500 million less than last year. It also was receiving none of the $440 million extra Obama wanted so the agency could help enforce Obama’s health care law, another favorite GOP target.
Democrats won extra money for Head Start’s preschool programs, enough to serve another 90,000 young children. The Federal Aviation Administration would get less than Congress enacted last year, but enough money was included to avoid 2013′s furloughs and hiring freezes for air traffic controllers.
The FBI won extra money, including almost twice as much to help it conduct background checks on firearms purchasers. The National Institutes of Health would get $29.9 billion, about $1 billion above last year’s budget.
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