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The House approved two spending packages on Tuesday, allocating $1.4 trillion and carrying dozens of priorities such as raising the tobacco purchase age nationally to 21.
WASHINGTON — The House took the first step on Tuesday to avert a government shutdown, giving overwhelming approval to legislation that would fund all federal agencies and programs through next fall just days before federal funding is set to lapse.
A dozen must-pass bills were split into two packages in part to appease President Trump, who had vowed to never again sign a so-called omnibus package. But in essence, the pair of measures were just that: a giant potpourri of unrelated spending and policy measures stuffed full of priorities with enough appeal to each political party to ensure their passage through Congress and smooth their path to Mr. Trump’s desk, on the eve of a vote to impeach him.
The House passed the measures less than 24 hours after lawmakers formally unveiled more than 2,000 pages of legislation, which cover the federal government for the current fiscal year. The Senate is expected to vote on both measures before the Friday deadline when funding expires.
By a 297 to 120 margin, the House approved one package that contained $632 billion for nondefense programs and a number of additions, including the repeal of three health care taxes and language raising the age to purchase tobacco products to 21 nationally. The measure also includes $25 million in funding for gun violence research, the first time in more than two decades that such funding will be allocated.
Heritage Action, the conservative advocacy group, declared its opposition — saying the bill was “loaded down with liberal poison pills and bad policy riders” — while the U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsed both measures.
Ultimately, the two spending packages — totaling about $1.4 trillion — will allow agencies and federal departments some stability with a full year’s worth of funding, after two short-term spending bills kept the government functioning while lawmakers haggled over the details.
A second measure, billed as a national security package because it included allocations for both the military and the Department of Homeland Security, passed on a 280 to 138 margin. Seventy-five Democrats voted against the measure, with some protesting what they said was an excessive $738 billion cost for the military and others objecting to the decision to fund the administration’s immigration policies without adequate oversight. The legislation maintains $1.375 billion for border barrier construction, with no limitations on Mr. Trump’s ability to transfer funds from other Pentagon accounts.
“This is not the bill I would have written on my own,” Representative Nita Lowey, Democrat of New York and the chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, said in a floor speech about the measure. “But I am proud that we have been able to do so much good in this political environment.”
The top Republican on the committee, Representative Kay Granger of Texas, declared that the compromise was “good for America, and I’m proud to support it.”
In a closed-door meeting with the Democratic caucus on Tuesday morning, three lawmakers stood up to describe their concerns with the package: Representatives Joaquin Castro of Texas, the chairman of the Hispanic Caucus, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, a co-chairwoman of the Progressive Caucus, and Ruben Gallego of Arizona. The Hispanic Caucus, fueled by two-thirds of its 38 members, announced its opposition to the bill shortly afterward, as did the Progressive Caucus.
Mr. Gallego said he had told Ms. Lowey earlier this month that “the status quo is not acceptable” when it came to funding the immigration policies, including allowing the administration to reallocate funds from other programs to build the border wall and raise the number of migrants in detention over the levels set by the spending bills.
“I told her today in this caucus again, that she has to go find Republican votes, because I’m not voting for it,” he said on Tuesday. Mr. Gallego argued that another short-term spending bill would have been preferable to the package put forward by Democrats, though other lawmakers have argued that full-year funding bills offer agencies the stability agencies and departments need to plan and develop programs.
Other members of the Democratic caucus grappled publicly with their choice between voting no to register their opposition to immigration policies they detest or supporting the measure to maintain funding for other national security programs and avoid another government shutdown.
Representative Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Democrat of Florida and a member of the Hispanic Caucus, called it a “heart-wrenching” decision to vote for the measure, while Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard of California and the top Democrat responsible for the Department of Homeland Security bill, acknowledged that “we’re all frustrated” with the border wall funding that remained and the lack of restrictions on Mr. Trump’s ability to transfer funding. Ms. Roybal-Allard, a member of the Hispanic Caucus, voted against the package, a rare gesture for a subcommittee chairwoman.
Mark A. Morgan, the acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, said he was frustrated that certain lawmakers, including those from border states, were pushing back against the spending package.
“One hundred percent I’m disappointed — absolutely,” Mr. Morgan told reporters on Tuesday. “When I see Congress not be able to get together on a bipartisan manner to be able to fund what I see as an essential tool to perform our duty? To protect this country? Damn right I’m disappointed.”
The spending legislation, lawmakers acknowledged, is overdue, since the fiscal year began on Oct. 1. The compromise on funding is part of a last-minute burst to resolve some of unfinished legislative business before a scheduled break begins Friday.
Representative Chip Roy, Republican of Texas and one of the most vocal foes of the spending process, was among the opponents of both pieces of legislation, calling them “atrocious” and urging both his colleagues and Mr. Trump to vote against the packages.
Mr. Trump and his administration have not said whether they would support the packages, but administration officials were closely involved in the final crafting of the spending text — and most lawmakers in Washington are highly motivated to avoid another government shutdown.
The deal was further sweetened by the additional items, which allowed lawmakers to approve legislation that would have otherwise dragged into an election year without action. Instead, Congress fulfilled its constitutional duty to dictate government spending while crossing off a number of projects: extending the Export-Import Bank, restoring a pension program and health benefits for miners, and teeing up a May vote on health care legislation as an incentive for negotiators to cut a deal on lowering prescription drug prices.
After striking a deal late Monday night, lawmakers also attached a package that would extend several expiring special-interest tax credits, giving extensions to brewers and distillers, fuel-cell car buyers and a long list of other business interests.
Congress on Tuesday also formally sent Mr. Trump legislation that makes permanent $255 million a year in funding to support science, technology, engineering and math — or STEM — in historically black colleges, tribal colleges and higher education institutions.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs contributed reporting.
