House GOP claim conservative policy wins in first spending package ahead of funding deadline

House Republicans lauded conservative policy wins in the first of two spending packages to fund the government that was released on Saturday ahead of another deadline to prevent a partial government shutdown.

The $459.3 billion package is the product of a deal struck by House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, and fellow congressional leaders last week to put an end to the ongoing spending fight, which has dragged five months into the new fiscal year.

Congress now has until midnight Friday to pass the first package, known as a minibus, to avoid a partial government shutdown.

The first spending bundle represents half of the dozen bills needed to fund the government, and includes six measures that fund the VA, agriculture, interior, transportation, energy and water, and commerce, justice and science.

Mr. Johnson noted that despite a divided government and a razor-thin GOP majority in the House, Republicans still got some policy victories. His stance comes as some Republicans were concerned that any conservative victories would be few and far between.

“House Republicans secured key conservative policy victories, rejected left-wing proposals, and imposed sharp cuts to agencies and programs critical to President Biden’s agenda,” Mr. Johnson said in a statement.

Some of the so-called policy wins included provisions that bolster tracking and review of foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land, preventing the sale of oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China, and stopping the VA from sending information on veterans looking for help on their benefits to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check system without a judge’s consent, among others.

There are also spending cuts in the package, like slashing the funding of the Environmental Protection Agency by 10%, a 7% reduction to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives budget, and a 6% cut to the FBI budget.

The proclaimed policy victories come as Mr. Johnson has experienced pressure from his right flank to attach more conservative policy riders to the bills.

Members of the House Freedom Caucus pressed the speaker to include changes to nix the Pentagon’s abortion travel reimbursement policy, defund Planned Parenthood, and prevent funding for a new FBI headquarters.

Democrats warned Mr. Johnson not to yield to the conservatives’ demands, arguing that they would not support spending legislation that included so-called “poison pill” policy add-ons.

Because of the tenuous nature of Mr. Johnson’s slim majority in the House, he will likely need to rely on Democrats to pass the spending package.

Should Congress pass the first spending package, they will have to deal with another deadline to fund the other half of the government on March 22 with another bundle of six bills. The text for those bills is expected to be released in the coming weeks.