周三下午，众议院通过了由六项政府拨款法案组成的一揽子计划，以避免美国经济陷入困境政府部分关闭在周五截止日期前。
这些法案以339-85的投票结果轻松通过，支持它们的民主党人多于共和党人。目前，该资助计划已提交参议院，参议院领导人正在鼓励他们的同事共同努力通过法案。
议员们面临着3月8日和3月22日两个即将到来的关闭截止日期的压力——这是一个赌注从上周的关闭威胁。由于国会没有采取行动，12项拨款法案中有6项的项目资金将于周五晚上耗尽。
如果国会成功，这六项法案将在9月底前获得全部资金。
周日，众议院和参议院两党领袖联合公布了六项妥协拨款法案。此前，众议院和参议院就这些法案的成本、应该包括哪些政策条款以及可以削减哪些开支进行了数月的幕后辩论。
4675亿美元的拨款方案是在暂停规则的情况下投票通过的，该规则需要三分之二的多数才能通过。这意味着，议长迈克·约翰逊再次不得不依靠民主党人的投票来通过该法案——这一举动使前议长凯文·麦卡锡陷入困境，并导致他去年被赶下台。
该计划为农业部、商务部、司法部、能源部、内政部、退伍军人事务部、交通部、住房和城市发展部以及食品药品监督管理局、军事建设和其他联邦项目提供资金。
本周早些时候，强硬的保守派团体众议院自由核心小组(House Freedom Caucus)公开反对该拨款计划，并在一份声明中表示，它“放弃了共和党人迫使激进民主党人参加谈判的筹码，以真正确保南部边境的安全，并结束有目的、危险的大规模释放非法外国人进入美国的行为。"
“就像最近的其他支出法案一样，这项综合法案可能会得到更多民主党人而不是共和党人的支持。该组织表示:“众议院自由核心小组成员敦促所有共和党人反对《综合法案》的两个部分。
参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默誓言，一旦这些法案在众议院获得通过，将努力在参议院迅速通过。
舒默周二在议会上说:“一旦众议院将拨款法案提交参议院，我将把这些法案提交给议会，这样我们就可以在周五的最后期限之前将它们放在拜登总统的办公桌上。”“但时间紧迫，由于周四的国情咨文，我们需要合作，以加快通过这些法案。从现在到周五，参议院的关键词将是“合作”和“速度”。"
舒默说，参议院“谢天谢地”在通过这些法案方面有了“非常非常好的开端”。他吹捧民主党在资助方案中的胜利。
舒默说:“我们通过这些法案时，没有进行毁灭性的削减，也没有杂志右翼推动的毒丸计划。”“我们现在有六项法案，将为美国家庭、母亲和儿童、清洁能源、美国退伍军人等保留重大投资。”
少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔表示，推进这些法案将是“我们政府最基本的责任之一向前迈出的一大步。”
“我很感谢我们的同事们推动合理的年度拨款立法向总统的办公桌更近了一步。我当然会敦促我们所有的同事支持它，”麦康奈尔周二表示。
尽管预计国会将在截止日期前通过这六项将于本周末到期的法案，但距离资金之争仍有一段距离。
其他六项拨款法案将于3月22日失去资金，国会很可能难以通过。目前还没有就任何妥协立法达成协议，而且与本周通过的一揽子拨款法案中的一些法案不同，下一批法案中的任何立法都没有在参议院得到审议。
House passes funding bills to avert partial government shutdown
The House passed a package of six government funding bills Wednesday afternoon to avert apartial government shutdownbefore the Friday deadline.
The bills easily passed with a vote of 339-85 with more Democrats backing it than Republicans. The funding package now heads to the Senate, where its leaders are encouraging their colleagues to work together to pass the bills.
Lawmakers face pressure with a pair of upcoming shutdown deadlines on March 8 and March 22 -- a puntfrom last week's shutdown threat. Funding for programs under six of the 12 appropriations bills runs out on Friday evening absent congressional action.
If Congress is successful, these six bills will be fully funded through the end of September.
The six compromise funding bills were unveiled jointly by House and Senate bipartisan leaders on Sunday, after many months of behind-the-scenes debate over how much these bills should costs, what policy provisions they ought to include, and what cuts could be made.
The $467.5 billion appropriations package was voted on under suspension of the rules, which required a two-thirds majority to pass. That meant, once again, Speaker Mike Johnson had to rely on Democrats' votes to pass it -- a move that landed former speaker Kevin McCarthy in hot water and contributed to his ouster last year.
The package provides funding for the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Energy, Interior, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development as well as the Food and Drug Administration, military construction and other federal programs.
Earlier this week, the House Freedom Caucus -- a hard-line conservative group -- came out against the funding package, saying in a statement that it "surrenders Republicans' leverage to force radical Democrats to the table to truly secure the southern border and end the purposeful, dangerous mass release of illegal aliens into the United States."
"As with other recent spending bills, it is likely this omnibus receives more Democrat than Republican support. House Freedom Caucus Members urge all Republicans to oppose both halves of the omnibus," the group said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed to try to move the bills quickly through the Senate once they pass in the House.
"As soon as the House sends the appropriations bills over to the Senate I will put these bills on the floor so we can have them on President Biden's desk before Friday's deadline," Schumer said on the floor Tuesday. "But the clock is ticking and because of the State of the Union on Thursday, we need to cooperate to move extra fast to get these bills through. Between now and Friday the watch words for the Senate will be 'cooperation' and 'speed.'"
Schumer said the Senate is "thankfully" off to a "very, very good start" to passing these bills. He touted the Democratic wins in the funding package.
"We passed these bills without devastating cuts or poison pill riders pushed by the MAGA right," Schumer said. "We now have six bills that will preserve significant investments for American families, for moms and children, for clean energy, for American veterans and more."
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said advancing the bills will be a "major step forward in one of our most basic responsibilities of government."
"I am grateful to our colleagues for pushing sensible annual funding legislation one step closer to the president's desk. I would certainly urge all of our colleagues to support it," McConnell said Tuesday.
Though Congress is largely expected to pass these six bills expiring at week's end before the deadline, there remains a funding fight looming the distance.
The other six funding bills, which lose funds on March 22, will likely prove much harder for Congress to pass. No deal has yet been struck on any compromise legislation, and, unlike some bills in the funding package being passed this week, none of the legislation in the next tranche of bills has been considered on the Senate floor.
