US House passes 1.5 trln USD omnibus spending bill

WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives on Wednesday night passed a 1.5-trillion-US-dollar omnibus spending bill for the fiscal year 2022 to fund the federal government through the end of September.

The bill includes 730 billion dollars in non-defense funding, an increase of 46 billion dollars over fiscal year 2021, and 782 billion dollars in defense funding, an increase of 42 billion dollars over the previous fiscal year, according to the House Appropriations Committee, which oversees federal discretionary spending.

The bill also provides 13.6 billion dollars in supplemental funding to boost humanitarian, security and economic assistance related to the Ukraine crisis.

To pass the House, the bill was split into two parts: the defense portion which passed in a 361-69 vote, and the nondefense portion which passed in a 260-171 vote.

"With passage of this government funding legislation, we are delivering historic investments that will help lower the cost of living for working families, create American jobs, and support our nation's most vulnerable," House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro said in a statement.

The bill now goes to the Senate. The House also passed a stopgap measure by voice vote to extend federal government funding until March 15 to give the Senate enough time to pass the omnibus spending bill and avoid a government shutdown. The current government funding expires on Friday.

Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said the current omnibus bill would increase spending by roughly 500 billion dollars above the Congressional Budget Office's most recent baseline over the next decade.

"This increase would allow spending to roughly keep pace with inflation, but in doing so the bill will actually exacerbate inflationary pressures," MacGuineas said Wednesday in a statement.

"With the debt approaching record levels as a share of the economy, inflation at a 40-year high...Congress should look to scale back this bill and determine where savings can be found," MacGuineas said, adding that it's time to restore reasonable and responsible discretionary spending caps to ensure future spending levels remain under control.