Congress clamors for final spending package as Speaker Johnson promises GOP wins

Congress was still in the dark Wednesday on details of the latest spending package of fiscal 2024, but House Speaker Mike Johnson reassured Republicans it included scores of conservative policy wins.

Lawmakers have until midnight Friday to fund six government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon, but they still don’t know what’s inside the more than $1 trillion bill.

The appropriators were aiming to release the text at midnight Wednesday, giving Congress about 48 hours to parse through the colossal bill.

The Homeland Security spending was the most difficult to negotiate. Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, touted key DHS provisions he said were wins for his party.

He said the bill would increase Immigration and Customs Enforcement beds from 34,000 to 42,000, funding 22,000 border patrol agents, and cutting nongovernmental organization funding by 20%.

He described those policy tweaks, particularly the increase in ICE beds, as a way of enforcing the law and laying the groundwork for former President Donald Trump’s possible return to the White House.

“I think there’ll be a Trump administration, and he is going to be of course much more heavily focused on enforcing the law and working on detaining and deporting illegals,” Mr. Johnson said. “You have to have the infrastructure in place to do that, and so increasing ICE beds was a big priority of ours.”

Mr. Johnson outlined other GOP policy wins at a closed-door meeting with House Republicans:

• A $27 billion bump to defense funding;

• Troop pay increase;

• Various cuts to diversity, equity and inclusion programs;

• Reductions for Defense Department climate programs and foreign aid programs;

• No funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency where a dozen employees allegedly aided or participated in Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel.

The speaker said he hopes to vote on the bill by Friday. If he holds the vote by then, he’ll forgo an oft-ignored House Rule that gives lawmakers 72 hours to read legislation. 

Dropping the bill at the last minute reminded some GOP lawmakers of how Democrats ran the House, often debuting funding bills just hours before a vote. 

“Quite frankly, I don’t like it,” said Rep. John Rutherford, Florida Republican.

Rushing the bill to the House floor likely won’t stop it from passing the House. But Rep. Bob Good, Virginia Republican, warned members against voting blind. 

“If you’re planning to vote for it, you ought to be insistent on it being 72 hours to read it because if you vote for this bill, you own every bad policy that’s in it,” he said.