Congressional leaders introduced a large $1.2 trillion legislative package to finance large parts of the government until the fall.
The 1,012-page, six-bill funding package was released very early on Thursday, as lawmakers try to quickly pass the legislation to avoid a shutdown this weekend.
Here are some of the main points:
Homeland Security
The package has over $490 million to hire 22,000 Border Patrol agents, which Republicans are promoting as the “highest level ever funded.”
Negotiators have been emphasizing funding increases for border security technology, raises to Border Patrol overtime pay approved in the annual defense authorization bill last year, and financing for 41,500 detention beds. Democrats have also highlighted the absence of border wall funding after a divisive argument over DHS spending.
The bill arrives as both sides have intensified their messaging on the border before the presidential election in November. But conservatives have already stated that more action is required as they advocate for strict policy changes.
“Having more ICE beds isn’t going to do anything when they have ICE directives in place that are instructing them not to enforce the law,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) told reporters after GOP leadership highlighted some DHS funding at a meeting earlier this week.
“Getting more Border Patrol agents just means processing more people, right? If you don’t have the policy changes, you still have open borders.”
UNRWA
Republicans are promoting an agreement that limits funding to a crucial United Nations agency that offers aid for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA.
The Biden administration stated it would temporarily stop funding to the agency due to allegations that a dozen of its employees participated in Hamas’s attack on Israel last October.
But Democrats had pushed for funding to continue with new restrictions for the agency, which has over 30,000 employees, viewing it as crucial in distributing large quantities of food and humanitarian assistance.
“Do they consider a win the fact that children are starving to death in Gaza and are going to be unable to get the food and medical supplies they need because of the lack of funding to UNRWA,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told The Hill. “If that’s a win, I’d hate to see what a loss looks like.”
Republicans say the bill would also cut funding for the United Nations Commission of Inquiry against Israel.
PEPFAR
The package includes $6 billion for the president’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), as well as $1.65 billion for the Global Fund.
Congress previously allowed parts of the program to expire last year, as some Republicans and conservative groups targeted the funding amid debate over abortion.
Election security
Democrats are emphasizing $55 million for election security grants, after House Republicans sought to eliminate funding in the area in their initial proposal last year.
Democrats say the funding will “help supplement state efforts to enhance the security and honesty of elections for Federal office.”
Congress members' salaries
The proposal does not include a raise for members, keeping their pay frozen for several years.
Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), who leads the committee responsible for the annual legislative branch funding bill, previously said he was working to allow a vote on increasing members' pay.
He acknowledged that the funding bill passed by House Republicans last year maintained the freeze on annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLA), but he told The Hill that members want the opportunity to vote on a COLA.
TSA
The funding package allocates over $10.5 billion for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which is $1.2 billion more than the funding in fiscal year 2023.
Democrats say that over $1 billion will be used to increase funding for TSA workers and to continue investments in pay equity initiated last year, as well as to support the expansion of protecting TSA workers’ rights.
According to a source familiar with the matter, the funding became a point of contention between both sides during negotiations over the annual DHS funding bill, one of the six bills included in the package revealed early Thursday.
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