House of Representatives approves $460 billion package to fund six government agencies, just three days before another shutdown: Democrats help Republicans advance six bills in light of conservative insurgency

The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a $460 billion spending package that will fund six government agencies, relying on Democratic support to offset the majority of Republicans who opposed it.

The bill passed by a vote of 339 to 85, with 132 Republicans voting yes, 83 voting no and all but two Democrats voting in favor.

The package brought together funding for Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, Energy-Water, Domestic-Environment, Military Construction-VA, and Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under one vote.

Conservatives have pushed for Congress to approve funding for every single government agency, but that has seemed untenable under a deeply divided government.

The spending package did not include the new border security restrictions that conservatives had wanted.

Speaker Johnson needed help from Democrats to pass the measure

The more than 1,000-page spending plan for the first six government agencies, with a funding deadline of Friday, was released Sunday and members of the House of Representatives Freedom Caucus and like-minded senators rejected the $12 billion and 605 pages of earmarks in the bill.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wrote on .’

Speaker Mike Johnson has touted “deep cuts” at the EPA (10%), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) (7%) and the FBI (6%), which Johnson said have “destroyed our freedoms and our economy threatened’. ‘

Most of the FBI cuts come as now-retired Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., set aside $600 million last year for a new FBI headquarters in Alabama.

Other policy provisions in the bill would provide additional funding to the FAA to oversee production of Boeing 737 Max aircraft – following several alarming safety incidents in recent months – while another provision would prohibit the sale of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China prohibit.

Amtrak, the long-beleaguered American railroad, would also receive another $2.4 billion in financing.

Democrats said the bill maintained full funding for a special food assistance program for women, infants and children (WIC) and included gains in rental assistance and pay for infrastructure workers such as air traffic controllers.

Democrats also touted the bill that rejects “poison pills” such as banning the promotion of critical race theory and gender-affirming care at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

But other Republican Party-led provisions include banning veterans from being flagged by the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check without a judge’s approval.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said that provision would lead him to vote against the bill entirely.

“These are very, very mentally ill veterans – the ones at greatest risk of suicide,” Murphy wrote on X.

The more than 1,000-page spending plan for the first six government agencies, which have a funding deadline on Friday

“I cannot sugarcoat this: this provision – which could lead to 20,000 new seriously mentally ill people being able to buy guns every year – will be a death sentence for many.”

In addition, U.S. Fish and Wildlife will halt endangered species inventory activities and strengthen tracking and assessment of foreign ownership of U.S. farmland.

The new funding details came after Congress passed a fourth short-term funding bill late last week, just one day before the government funding deadline.

A new funding deadline for the six remaining government agencies looms on March 22, but Congress is expected to lump these bills into one to two minibus votes.