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(Bloomberg) – U.S. Congressional leaders have unveiled a detailed agreement to keep most government agencies open through Sept. 30, with hopes of reaching it before a weekend deadline for another shutdown. .
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The package covers about a quarter of funding for government agencies and is the first to resolve ideological conflicts behind a series of shutdown threats and temporary patches the U.S. has operated for more than five months. shows substantial progress. It includes provisions to block oil sales from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China and track foreign purchases of U.S. farmland.
But it avoids protracted conflict by excluding funding for social programs administered through the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services. These institutions are currently scheduled to close on March 23, with no funding agreed.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the 1,050-page bill released Sunday did not contain any “rider” policy language that is anathema to Democrats.
“We are proud to keep the government open without layoffs or drug riders,” he said. He added that Democrats are proud of the level of funding for the Women, Infants and Children’s Nutrition Program, infrastructure and veterans benefits.
The bill increases food assistance under the so-called WIC nutrition program for women, infants, and children to $7.03 billion, an increase of $1.03 billion from current levels, Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Patty Murray said in a statement. He said he would provide it.
The House is expected to act first on the partial funding measure, passing the bill before President Joe Biden delivers his annual State of the Union address on Thursday. The Senate is expected to follow suit, and many targeted government agencies are expected to run out of funding by the end of the week.
Previously: Congress approves interim fund to avert US government shutdown
The measure includes funding for the Food and Drug Administration, as well as the Departments of Agriculture, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs, and Energy. The Environmental Protection Agency, Commerce, Justice and Interior departments are also targeted.
The bill falls short of conservative demands for deep cuts in domestic spending and includes few policy changes.
One change Republicans were able to secure was new restrictions on how the Department of Veterans Affairs shares information with the federal gun registry. Currently, when a veteran asks for help managing their benefits, the Firearms Registry is notified that the veteran may not have the ability to own a firearm. The provision would limit sharing to cases where the veteran poses a danger to himself or others.
The bill would direct authorities to issue warnings about foreign purchases of U.S. farmland, with a focus on purchases of U.S. farmland by entities with ties to China, North Korea, Russia and Iran. It would not completely ban such purchases, as House Republicans had originally planned.
The bill also updates strategically important agreements with Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia that grant U.S. military access to their territorial waters in exchange for funding.
Republicans also claimed a new ban on the Justice Department from targeting or investigating “parents who peacefully protest at school board meetings and who are not suspected of engaging in illegal activity.”
A bitter, weeks-long fight by Republicans to allow states to limit food stamp benefits to more nutritious foods was unsuccessful, according to House Republican leadership officials.
Republicans acknowledge that overall non-defense funding will not be reduced in the funding deal, but point out that President Joe Biden called for a $72 billion increase for the sector in this year’s budget proposal. The official said flat funding for domestic spending is straining some government agency budgets due to rising medical costs for veterans and food cuts for women and infants.
Republicans are pleased that the bill would divert $20 billion in tax audit funds from the Internal Revenue Service, which Republicans argued could be used to harass taxpayers. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the funds were provided as part of Mr. Biden’s flagship economic package in the last Congress, which would generate significant revenue from uncovering tax fraud.
It would also redirect $18 billion of previously approved COVID-19 pandemic funds to other uses.
Republicans say they were able to obtain budget cuts for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department to curb what they say is targeting conservatives. The deal increases funding for drug enforcement while tightening funding for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
(Updates language on Pacific Islands school board protesters.)
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