House GOP lawmakers expect tight vote on $1.2T government spending package
The fate of a $1.2 trillion government spending package is unclear as of Friday morning, with the House of Representatives expected to vote on it in just hours.
Congressional leaders introduced the 1,012-page bill around 3 a.m. on Thursday morning, less than 48 hours before the midnight Friday government funding deadline. The package must pass the House and Senate, then be signed by President Biden to avert a partial government shutdown.
Multiple sources, two GOP lawmakers and one senior GOP aide, said they believe the package will pass but that it would be a tight margin.
One GOP lawmaker told Fox News Digital they had to go home for a family emergency on Thursday but were asked by House Republican leadership to return for the Friday morning vote.
The bipartisan deal suffered a blow late on Thursday afternoon when one of its negotiators announced he would vote against it on the House floor. He cited some Democratic senators' inclusion of home district funding priorities, including for LGBTQ centers and facilities that provide late-term abortions.
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Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on Labor and Health & Human Services (HHS), announced Thursday, "This is not the bill that my subcommittee produced and supported. The Senate has taken liberties with their Congressionally Directed Spending requests that would never stand in the House."
"The House did not include these partisan funding projects in its Labor-HHS legislation. Based on these principles, the Senate shouldn’t either," Aderholt said. "I have multiple concerns, among them are the many new social services that this bill would create for the millions of illegal immigrants streaming across our border. Additionally, it would fund facilities providing routine abortion services, including late-term abortions. The Senate must respect the work of the House. In good conscience, I cannot and will not vote for these projects or this bill."
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It is also being opposed by the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, which has accused House GOP leadership of walking away without scoring conservative victories – something leadership has pushed back against.
The package accounts for roughly 70% of discretionary government spending. Discretionary spending is allocated by Congress, in contrast with mandatory spending like federal entitlements. It includes funding for the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, Education, HHS and the legislative branch.
It is six of 12 total bills that Congress must pass each fiscal year to fund the government. Congress passed six others, totaling roughly $460 billion, earlier this month.