Congress Set to Approve 6-Bill Spending Package, Averting Partial Government Shutdown
March 7, 2024
On March 6, the House approved a six-bill, $460 billion spending package that includes funding for the following fiscal year 2024 appropriations measures: Agriculture; Commerce-Justice-Science; Energy-Water; Interior-Environment; Military Construction-Veterans Affairs; and, Transportation-HUD. The legislation, which adheres to the debt limit deal negotiated by President Joe Biden and then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), passed by a vote of 339-85. The measure now heads to the Senate, where it’s expected to be cleared before a midnight deadline on Friday.
Overall, the agencies and programs funded under the spending measure would generally remain flat, though there are small increases for programs within the Energy-Water and Transportation-HUD bills. The Interior-Environment measure would see the largest percentage cut (over three percent), which is mainly due to reductions to the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget.
While House GOP leaders claimed a number of key wins in the package, including cuts to nondefense discretionary spending, conservatives were generally critical of the final package. Some members were unhappy with the overall level of spending, while others believed that Republicans should have been able to extract more policy concessions. For their part, Democrats touted their efforts to reject the steep funding cuts initially sought by the House Freedom Caucus. Congressional Democrats also successfully turned away a number of controversial policy riders. In the end, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had to rely largely on Democratic support to advance the bill.
Looking ahead, the deadline for passing the remaining six bills – Homeland Security, Labor-Health and Human Services-Education, Defense, Financial Services, Legislative Branch and State-Foreign Operations – is March 22. Several of these measures are considered more controversial and thus will prove more difficult to get over the finish line.
House Financial Services Panel Advances Wildfire Insurance Coverage Act
Last week, the House Financial Services Committee overwhelmingly approved legislation – the Wildfire Insurance Coverage Study Act (H.R. 7462) – that would require the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a study relating to the availability of insurance coverage for damages related to wildfires. Among other things, GAO would be directed to identify mitigation practices that would assist in reducing premiums for insurance policies covering wildfire damage. In addition, the study would examine the existing state of property insurance coverage, the response from State insurance regulatory agencies, and the challenges related to underwriting wildfire risk. The measure is sponsored by the committee’s ranking member, Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA), who serves as the top Democrat on the panel.
Sen. Padilla Introduces Bill to Establish the Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program
Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) recently introduced legislation – the Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP) Establishment Act (S. 3830) – that would establish a permanent water assistance program to help low-income households pay their drinking water and wastewater bills. The program, which originated as a pilot under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, expired on September 30, 2023. Specifically, S. 3830 would make award grants available (via states) to assist low-income households located in rural or underserved areas in paying arrearages and other rates for drinking water or wastewater services. The legislation also would transfer authority of the program from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A one-pager of the bill is available here, and a section-by-section is available here.