WASHINGTON — The House approved a $1.2 trillion package of on Friday just a few hours before funding for some key federal agencies is set to expire, a long overdue action nearly six months into the budget year that will push any threats of a government shutdown to the fall.
Johnson broke up this fiscal year's spending bills into two parts as House Republicans revolted against what has become an annual practice of asking them to vote for one massive, complex bill with little time to review it or face a shutdown. Johnson viewed that as a breakthrough. Still, most of the opposition Friday came from Republicans, who viewed the bill as containing too few of their policy priorities and as spending too much.
It's taken lawmakers six months into the current fiscal year to get near the finish line, the process slowed by conservatives who pushed for more policy mandates and steeper spending cuts than a Democratic-led Senate or White House would consider. The impasse required several short-term, stopgap spending bills to keep agencies funded as negotiations continued.
The 1,012-page bill also funds the departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Labor and others.