Omnibus Bill Text is Complete, Vote Expected by End of Week

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Omnibus Bill Text is Complete, Vote Expected by End of Week

Omnibus Bill Text is Complete, Vote Expected by End of Week

The 4,155 page Omnibus spending bill text was posted at 1:40 AM this morning. A summary can be found here.

At over 4,000 pages and nearly $1.7 trillion in spending, there is a lot in the bill. National defense ($858 billion) received a 10 percent increase – a big Republican priority. The bill provides “$772.5 billion for non-defense discretionary programs, including $118.7 billion – a 22 percent increase – for VA medical care. The bill includes $44.9 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine and our NATO allies and $40.6 billion to assist communities across the country recovering from drought, hurricanes, flooding, wildfire, natural disasters and other matters.” (Sen. Leahy).

Democrats highlighted:

$58.7 billion for programs authorized by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act; $1.8 billion in new funding to implement the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act of 2022; and $5 billion for the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund to implement the landmark PACT Act.
$47.5 billion for the National Institutes of Health, $9.2 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, $1.5 billion for ARPA-H (the President’s bold initiative to fight cancer), and $950 million for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.
$7.67 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, and nearly $12 billion for Head Start.
$5 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
$700 million for combatting violence against women

Republicans highlighted:

10 percent increase in national defense spending
a 4.6% pay raise for both military servicemembers and the DOD civilian workforce.
reduces the Biden Administration’s non-defense budget request increase by more than half, providing a non-defense increase of only 5.5% over the last fiscal year.
Preserved long-standing legacy riders and rejects partisan poison pills. Importantly, the package protects life – preserving the Hyde family of amendments and beating back Democrat attempts to finance abortion with taxpayer dollars. It rejects radical environmental and climate policies, flat-funds the IRS, and preserves restrictions on the closure of Guantanamo Bay.

The bill does not include the tax extenders package that many in the business community pushed for. But it does include SECURE 2.0 – a package of retirement tax incentives. Many of the expiring mandatory health programs were extended for two years – including the telehealth provisions enacted at the start of the pandemic. The bill also includes the Electoral Count Act. This is a big bipartisan achievement to provide additional clarity and structure to the process of certifying a presidential election. The bill includes a provision that bans TikTok from federal government devices.

The Senate will take up the Omnibus first. Many in the Senate want to move quickly. Conservatives, however, are threatening to use procedural maneuvers to slow consideration. But the Senate will get to a final vote this week and send it to the House, which can process the bill within hours.

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