Senate Democrats unveiled sweeping legislation outlining their plans to fund the government for the coming fiscal year, and Republicans are already drawing battle lines around their non-starters on abortion and other “poison pills.”
The mammoth package, which consists of all 12 annual appropriation bills, would provide $653 billion in non-defense discretionary spending, up 10.1 percent from the current fiscal year, as well as $850 billion in defense discretionary spending, which is 8.7 percent higher than fiscal 2022.
The package includes ambitious plans to advance Democratic-backed priorities spanning policy areas like climate, marijuana, defense and border security. Democrats also tucked in a proposed $21 billion COVID-19 emergency supplemental funding measure.
“These bills are an investment in the American people that promote affordable housing, help families put food on the table, support the education and care of our children and young people, combat climate change, improve health care access, and invest in our communities," Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said.
“It is my hope that by releasing these bills, and making clear what the priorities of Senate Democrats are, we can take a step closer toward reaching a bipartisan compromise after months of stalled negotiations,” he added.
Republicans bristled at the legislation upon its release, with Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, writing off the drafts for failing to “appropriately allocate resources to our national defense” and removing legacy riders that passed in the fiscal 2022 government funding omnibus earlier this year.
“They have even taken the drastic step of providing hundreds of millions of dollars for taxpayer-financed abortions,” Shelby said, while decrying the proposed funding as “wasteful” and warning of a “long-term” continuing resolution, a funding Band-Aid Congress often passes when it hasn’t...